Lesson Plan: Rationalizing Denominators Mathematics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to rationalize square roots in the denominators of fractions.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- simplify a fraction with a square root in the denominator by multiplying both the numerator and the denominator by a square root,
- understand the concept of the conjugate of an expression with square roots and the properties it has,
- simplify an expression with square roots by multiplying both the numerator and the denominator by the conjugate of the denominator,
- solve algebraic problems involving the rationalization of denominators (including division of expressions with square roots).
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- adding, subtracting, and multiplying expressions with square roots,
- properties of addition and multiplication over the real numbers.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- cube roots,
- dividing radical expressions with more than two terms.
