How to prevent extraction of constants from radical sign?

Question

To me, the expression Sqrt[2]Sqrt[x] is more complex than Sqrt[2x]. But even if I merely input the latter, I get the former as output. I'd like to simplify expressions where such square roots could get additional terms inside, so Inactivate or Defer don't really help. See e.g. this:

FullSimplify[Sqrt[2 x] Sqrt[y], x > 0 && y > 0]

This gives me Sqrt[2] Sqrt[x y] as a result, while I'd prefer Sqrt[2 x y]. Even if I specify complexity function like the following, it still doesn't help:

FullSimplify[Sqrt[2 x] Sqrt[y], x > 0 && y > 0, 
 ComplexityFunction -> (Times@@ImageDimensions@Rasterize[#] &)]

And this is despite these results:

Times@@ImageDimensions@Rasterize[Sqrt[2 x]]
Times@@ImageDimensions@Rasterize[HoldForm[Sqrt[2 x]]]

1323

903

I've looked at SystemOptions["SimplificationOptions"], but haven't found anything related to this type of simplification. Is there any way to prevent such splitting of constants from the radical?

Answer 1

Even when a simplification would have returned Sqrt[2 x y], Mathematica would have further evaluated this to Sqrt[2] Sqrt[x y]. So simplification will not help you. What we can do is to print the result in the form you want to see it:

MakeBoxes[Times[z:(Power[_, Rational[1,2]]..)], StandardForm] := 
  RowBox[{SqrtBox[ToBoxes[ Times @@ {z}[[All,1]]]]}]

Sqrt[2 x] Sqrt[y]

(* Sqrt[2 x y] *)

But be careful: the output now looks like being a square root of a product. However, it still is the product of some square roots:

FullForm[%]

(* Times[Power[2,Rational[1,2]],Power[x,Rational[1,2]],Power[y,Rational[1,2]]] *)