The problem asks to express $\frac{3\sqrt{2} - \sqrt{3}}{2\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{2}}$ in the form $\frac{\sqrt{m}}{\sqrt{n}}$, where $m$ and $n$ are whole numbers.
2025/3/20
1. Problem Description
The problem asks to express in the form , where and are whole numbers.
2. Solution Steps
We have to rationalize the denominator of the given expression: .
To rationalize the denominator, we multiply both the numerator and the denominator by the conjugate of the denominator, which is :
\frac{3\sqrt{2} - \sqrt{3}}{2\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{2}} \cdot \frac{2\sqrt{3} + \sqrt{2}}{2\sqrt{3} + \sqrt{2}} = \frac{(3\sqrt{2} - \sqrt{3})(2\sqrt{3} + \sqrt{2})}{(2\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{2})(2\sqrt{3} + \sqrt{2})}
Expanding the numerator:
(3\sqrt{2})(2\sqrt{3}) + (3\sqrt{2})(\sqrt{2}) - (\sqrt{3})(2\sqrt{3}) - (\sqrt{3})(\sqrt{2}) = 6\sqrt{6} + 6 - 6 - \sqrt{6} = 5\sqrt{6}
Expanding the denominator (using the difference of squares formula ):
(2\sqrt{3})^2 - (\sqrt{2})^2 = 4(3) - 2 = 12 - 2 = 10
So the expression becomes:
\frac{5\sqrt{6}}{10} = \frac{\sqrt{6}}{2}
Now we need to express this in the form .
Since , we can rewrite the expression as:
\frac{\sqrt{6}}{\sqrt{4}}
We need to get the options provided in the form and check if they equal to or .
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
The correct option is (b) because .
3. Final Answer
(b)