Conjugates

• Use the conjugate whenever there is a radical or a square root (or complex number) in the denominator

• Multiply the conjugate by the numerator and denominator to remove the radical (or complex number) out of the denominator

• The conjugate takes the following form

• 5 / (x – √y) => the conjugate is (x + √y)

• 5 / (√y + 9) => first put it into standard form, 5 / (9 + √y) and the conjugate is (9–√y)