How do you simplify #(8-sqrt3)(4-sqrt3) #?

1 Answer
Mar 14, 2018

#35 - 12sqrt3#

Explanation:

To multiply out this you do the same thing as what you would do with a polynomial. Therefore you need to multiply each term in the bracket by each term in the other bracket:
#8 xx 4 = 32#
#8 xx (-sqrt3) = -8sqrt3#
#(-sqrt3) xx 4 = -4sqrt3#
#(-sqrt3) xx (-sqrt3) = 3#

Then you can collect like terms and simplify:
#32 + 3 - 8sqrt3 - 4 sqrt3 = 35 - 12sqrt3#