Which of the following is smallest?
- $\sqrt [4]{5}$
- $\sqrt [5]{4}$
- $\sqrt {4}$
- $\sqrt {3}$
Reveal answer
Fill a bubble to check yourself
B
Correct answer
Explanation
Let us rewrite the given set of magnitudes $\sqrt [ 4 ]{ 5 } ,\sqrt [ 5 ]{ 4 } ,\sqrt { 4 },\sqrt {3}$ as follows:
$\sqrt [ 4 ]{ 5 } ={ \left( 5 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 4 } }\ \sqrt [ 5 ]{ 4 } ={ \left( 4 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 5 } }\ \sqrt { 4 } ={ \left( 4 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 2 } }\ \sqrt { 3 } ={ \left( 3 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 2 } }$
We now take the LCM of the denominators of the powers to make the denominators same, then the above magnitudes will be:
$\sqrt [ 4 ]{ 5 } ={ \left( 5 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1\times 5 }{ 4\times 5 } }={ \left( 5 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 5 }{ 20 } }={ \left( { 5 }^{ 5 } \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }={ \left( 3125 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }=\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 3125 } \\ \sqrt [ 5 ]{ 4 } ={ \left( 4 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1\times 4 }{ 5\times 4 } }={ \left( 4 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 4 }{ 20 } }={ \left( { 4 }^{ 4 } \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }={ \left( 256 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }=\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 256 } \\ \sqrt { 4 } ={ \left( 4 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1\times 10 }{ 2\times 10 } }={ \left( 4 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 10 }{ 20 } }={ \left( { 4 }^{ 10 } \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }={ \left( 1048576 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }=\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 1048576 } \\ \sqrt { 3 } ={ \left( 3 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1\times 10 }{ 2\times 10 } }={ \left( 3 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 10 }{ 20 } }={ \left( { 3 }^{ 10 } \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }={ \left( 2187 \right) }^{ \dfrac { 1 }{ 20 } }=\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 2187 }$
Now, the descending order is as shown below:
$\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 1048576 } >\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 3125 } >\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 2187 } >\sqrt [ 20 ]{ 256 } \\ \Rightarrow \sqrt { 4 } >\sqrt [ 4 ]{ 5 } >\sqrt { 3 } >\sqrt [ 5 ]{ 4 }$
Hence, the smallest magnitude is $\sqrt [ 5 ]{ 4 }$.