Hi Melissa.

When you "simplify" a square root, you simply factor out all the perfect squares that are factors.

For example, to simplify the square root of 75, first I recognize that the perfect square 25 goes into it.

So 75 = 25 x 3. Therefore the square root of 75 equals the square root of 25 times the square root of 3. And that means just 5 times the square root of 3.

Here's another example: Simplify the square root of 68. Looking at it, I notice that 4 (a perfect square) goes into that. 68 = 4 x 17. And since 4 = 2^2, then 68 simplifies to 2 times the square root of 17.

Now you try simplifying the square root of 164. What perfect squares go into 164?

Hope this helps,
Stephen La Rocque