What is Radical?

Radical in mathematics are similar to the roots of the number. Any numbers expressed as root, nth root, or others are called radicals. For example: ∛(12), For example: √(5), (11)^1/5, etc. all are radicals. Let us consider an example to understand the concept of radical better.

In the figure shown above, “n” is the index of the radical, “(a + 3b)” is the radicand, and “(ⁿ√)” is the radical symbol, and it is symbolically written as “nth root of (a+3b).” The index of a radical helps to determine how many times a number must be multiplied by itself to equal a radicand. And also an index of a radical is regarded as an antithesis of an exponent. 

In mathematics, an expression with a root is referred to as a radical. A radical can be used to describe various types of roots of a number, including square roots, cube roots, fourth roots, etc. For example, common radicals like the square root and cube root are expressed by the symbols √ and ³√, respectively, where “3” is the degree or index of the number. If the index of the radical is not mentioned, then it is considered a square root. The word “Radical” is extracted from the Latin word “radix” which means “Root”.