Finding the exact value of a radical How do I show that $\sqrt{97 +56\sqrt3}$ reduces to $7 +4\sqrt3?$. Without knowing intitially that it reduces to that value.

Wikipedia describes a simple method to write
$$
\sqrt{a+b \sqrt{c}\ } = \sqrt{d}+\sqrt{e}
$$
with
$$
d=\frac{a + \sqrt {a^2-b^2c}}{2},
\qquad
e=\frac{a - \sqrt {a^2-b^2c}}{2}
$$
This works iff $a^2 - b^2c$ is a square.
For $\sqrt{97 +56\sqrt3}$ we have $a^2 - b^2c=1$ and so
$$
\sqrt{97 +56\sqrt3} = \sqrt{49}+\sqrt{48} = 7 + 4 \sqrt 3
$$
