%% LyX 2.3.4.2 created this file. For more info, see http://www.lyx.org/. %% Do not edit unless you really know what you are doing. \documentclass[english]{article} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage[latin9]{inputenc} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{babel} \begin{document} \title{How to Simplify $\sqrt[3]{2+\sqrt{5}}$} \author{Amit Yaron} \date{Jul 25, 2021} \maketitle We need a number Z, satisfying: \begin{multline*} z^{3}=2+\sqrt{5} \end{multline*} I am using the letter 'z' because I am going to solve it like an equation in complex number, but with the square root of 5 instead of ``i''. Let us take x,y such that: \begin{multline*} z=x+\sqrt{5}y\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow x+\sqrt{5}y=\sqrt[3]{2+\sqrt{5}} \end{multline*} Cubing both sides: \begin{multline*} x^{3}+3x^{2}(\sqrt{5})y+3x(5y^{2})+5\sqrt{5}y^{3}=2+\sqrt{5}\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow x^{3}+3\sqrt{5}x^{2}y+15xy^{2}+5\sqrt{5}y^{3}=2+\sqrt{5} \end{multline*} From here we can obtain a system of equations: one for the rational part and the other for multiplications of $\sqrt{5}$: \begin{multline*} \begin{cases} x^{3}+15xy^{2} & =2\\ 3x^{2}y+5y^{3} & =1 \end{cases} \end{multline*} There are no solutions when $x=0$, so \begin{multline*} \frac{y}{x}\in\mathbb{R} \end{multline*} Let us take: \begin{multline*} a=\frac{y}{x}\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow\begin{cases} x^{3}+15a^{2}x^{3}=2 & (1)\\ 3ax^{3}+5a^{3}x^{3}=1 & (2) \end{cases} \end{multline*} From both equations: \begin{multline*} x^{3}+15a^{2}x^{3}=2(3ax^{3}+5a^{3}x^{3})\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow(1+15a^{2})x^{3}=(6a+10a^{3})x^{3} \end{multline*} Let us divide by $x^{3}$: \begin{multline*} 1+15a^{2}=6a+10a^{3} \end{multline*} From the sum of coefficient, we can see that: \begin{multline*} a=1 \end{multline*} is a solution. Let us find x by plugging into equation (1): \begin{multline*} 8x^{3}=1\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow x^{3}=\frac{1}{8}\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow x=\frac{1}{2}\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow y=ax=\frac{1}{2}\Rightarrow\\ \Rightarrow\sqrt[3]{2+\sqrt{5}}=x+\sqrt{5}y=\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \end{multline*} \end{document}