Problem

Add the following terms if possible.
\[
6 \sqrt{48}+2 \sqrt{108}
\]

Select the correct choice below and, if necessary, fill in the answer box to complete your choice.
A. $6 \sqrt{48}+2 \sqrt{108}=\square$ (Type an exact answer, using radicals as needed.)
B. The radicals cannot be combined.

Answer

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Answer

Final Answer: \(6 \sqrt{48}+2 \sqrt{108}=\boxed{36\sqrt{3}}\)

Steps

Step 1 :Given the expression \(6 \sqrt{48}+2 \sqrt{108}\).

Step 2 :The terms can be added if they have the same radicand (the number under the square root). However, in this case, the radicands are different (48 and 108). But we can simplify the radicands to see if they become the same.

Step 3 :The prime factorization of 48 is \(2^4 * 3\) and the prime factorization of 108 is \(2^2 * 3^3\). We can simplify the square roots by taking out pairs of factors.

Step 4 :For \(\sqrt{48}\), we can take out a pair of 2s to get \(2\sqrt{12}\), and for \(\sqrt{108}\), we can take out a pair of 2s and a pair of 3s to get \(6\sqrt{3}\).

Step 5 :So, the original expression becomes \(6*2\sqrt{12} + 2*6\sqrt{3}\).

Step 6 :Now, we can see that the radicands are still different (12 and 3), so the terms cannot be added directly. However, we can simplify \(\sqrt{12}\) further by taking out a pair of 2s to get \(2\sqrt{3}\).

Step 7 :So, the expression becomes \(6*2*2\sqrt{3} + 2*6\sqrt{3}\), which simplifies to \(24\sqrt{3} + 12\sqrt{3}\).

Step 8 :Now, the radicands are the same, so we can add the terms to get \(36\sqrt{3}\).

Step 9 :Final Answer: \(6 \sqrt{48}+2 \sqrt{108}=\boxed{36\sqrt{3}}\)

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