Square root of 2

The square root of 2 is equal to the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs of length 1.

The square root of 2, also known as Pythagoras' constant, often denoted by

${\sqrt {2}},$

is the positive real number that, when multiplied by itself, gives the number 2. Its numerical value approximated to 65 decimal places (sequence A002193 in the OEIS) is:

1.41421 35623 73095 04880 16887 24209 69807 85696 71875 37694 80731 76679 73799.

The square root of 2 was probably the first known irrational number. Geometrically, it is the length of a diagonal across a square with sides of one unit of length; this follows from the Pythagorean theorem. On basic calculators with no SQRT function, the quick approximation ${\tfrac {99}{70}}$ for the square root of two is better than the quick approximation ${\tfrac {22}{7}}$ for pi, probably the most widely known irrational number.

The silver ratio is

$1+{\sqrt {2}}.\,$

History

Babylonian clay tablet YBC 7289 with annotations.
(Image by Bill Casselman)

The Babylonian clay tablet YBC 7289 (c. 1800–1600 BCE) gives an approximation of ${\sqrt {2}}$ in four sexagesimal figures, which is about six decimal figures:

$1+{\frac {24}{60}}+{\frac {51}{60^{2}}}+{\frac {10}{60^{3}}}=1.41421{\overline {296}}.$

Another early close approximation of this number is given in ancient Indian mathematical texts, the Sulbasutras (c. 800–200 BCE) as follows: Increase the length [of the side] by its third and this third by its own fourth less the thirty-fourth part of that fourth. That is,

$1+{\frac {1}{3}}+{\frac {1}{3\cdot 4}}-{\frac {1}{3\cdot 4\cdot 34}}={\frac {577}{408}}\approx 1.414215686.$

This ancient Indian approximation is the seventh in a sequence of increasingly accurate approximations based on the sequence of Pell numbers, that can be derived from the continued fraction expansion of ${\sqrt {2}}.$

The discovery of the irrational numbers is usually attributed to the Pythagorean Hippasus of Metapontum, who produced a (most likely geometrical) proof of the irrationality of the square root of 2. According to one legend, Pythagoras believed in the absoluteness of numbers, and could not accept the existence of irrational numbers. He could not disprove their existence through logic, but his beliefs would not accept the existence of irrational numbers and so he sentenced Hippasus to death by drowning. [1] Other legends report that Hippasus was drowned by fanatical Pythagoreans [2], or merely expelled from their circle. [3]

Computation algorithm

There are a number of algorithms used in approximating the square root of 2, which - as an infinite nonrepeating decimal - can only ever be approximated. The most common algorithm for this, one used as a basis in many computers and calculators, is the Babylonian method of computing square roots, which is one of many methods of computing square roots. It goes as follows:

First, pick an arbitrary guess, $F_{0}$; the guess doesn't matter, as it only affects how many iterations are required to reach an approximation of a certain accuracy. Then, using that guess, iterate through the following recursive computation:

$F_{n+1}={\frac {F_{n}+{\frac {2}{F_{n}}}}{2}}$

The more iterations through the algorithm (that is, the more computations performed and the greater "n"), the better approximation of the square root of 2 is achieved.

The value of √2 was calculated to 137,438,953,444 decimal places by Yasumasa Kanada's team in 1997.

In February of 2006 the record for the calculation of √2 was eclipsed with the use of a home computer. Shigeru Kondo calculated 200,000,000,000 decimal places in slightly over 13 days and 14 hours using a 3.6GHz PC with 16GB of memory.

Among mathematical constants with nonrepeating decimal expansions, only π has been calculated more accurately. [4]

Proof of irrationality

One proof of the number's irrationality is the following proof by infinite descent. It is also a proof by contradiction, which means the proposition is proved by assuming that the opposite of the proposition is true and showing that this assumption is false, which means that the proposition must be true.

1. Assume that √2 is a rational number, meaning that there exists an integer a and an integer b such that a / b = √2.
2. Then √2 can be written as an irreducible fraction (the fraction is reduced as much as possible) a / b such that a and b are coprime integers and (a / b)² = 2.
3. It follows that a² / b² = 2 and a² = 2 b².
4. Therefore a² is even because it is equal to 2 b² which is obviously even.
5. It follows that a must be even. (Even squares have even roots and odd squares have odd roots.)
6. Because a is even, there exists an integer k that fulfills: a = 2k.
7. Inserting (6) into the last equation of (3): 2b² = (2k)² is equivalent to 2b² = 4k² is equivalent to b² = 2k².
8. Because 2k² is even it follows that b² is also even which means that b is even because only even numbers have even squares.
9. By (5) and (8) a and b are both even, which contradicts that a / b is irreducible as stated in (2).

Since there is a contradiction, the assumption (1) that √2 is a rational number must be false. The opposite is proven: √2 is irrational.

This proof can be generalized to show that any root of any natural number is either a natural number or irrational.

A different proof

Another reductio ad absurdum showing that √2 is irrational is less well-known. It is also an example of proof by infinite descent. It makes use of classic compass and straightedge construction, proving the theorem by a method similar to that employed by ancient Greek geometers.

Let ABC be a right isosceles triangle with hypotenuse length m and legs n. By the Pythagorean theorem, m/n = √2. Suppose m and n are integers. Let m:n be a ratio given in its lowest terms.

Draw the arcs BD and CE with centre A. Join DE. It follows that AB = AD, AC = AE and the ∠BAC and ∠DAE coincide. Therefore the triangles ABC and ADE are congruent by SAS.

Since ∠EBF is a right angle and ∠BEF is half a right angle, BEF is also a right isosceles triangle. Hence BE = m − n implies BF = m − n. By symmetry, DF = m − n, and FDC is also a right isosceles triangle. It also follows that FC = n − (m − n) = 2n − m.

Hence we have an even smaller right isosceles triangle, with hypotenuse length 2n − m and legs m − n. These values are integers even smaller than m and n and in the same ratio, contradicting the hypothesis that m:n is in lowest terms. Therefore m and n cannot be both integers, hence √2 is irrational.

Properties of the square root of two

One-half of √2, approximately 0.70710 67811 86548, is a common quantity in geometry and trigonometry, due to the fact that the unit vector that makes a 45° angle with the axes in a plane has the coordinates

$\left({\frac {\sqrt {2}}{2}},{\frac {\sqrt {2}}{2}}\right).$

This number satisfies

${\frac {\sqrt {2}}{2}}={\sqrt {\frac {1}{2}}}={\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}=\cos(45^{\circ })=\sin(45^{\circ }).$

One interesting property of the square root of two is as follows:

$\!\ {1 \over {{\sqrt {2}}-1}}={\sqrt {2}}+1.$

This is a result of a property of silver means.

The square root of two also has the continued fraction

$\!\ 1+{\frac {1}{2+{\frac {1}{2+{\frac {1}{2+\cdots }}}}}}.$

The square root of two can also be expressed purely in terms of the imaginary unit i:

${\frac {{\sqrt {i}}+i{\sqrt {i}}}{i}}$ and ${\frac {{\sqrt {-i}}-i{\sqrt {-i}}}{-i}}.$

Series and product representations

The identity cos(π/4) = sin(π/4) = √2/2, along with the infinite product representations for the sine and cosine, leads to products such as

${\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}=\prod _{k=0}^{\infty }\left(1-{\frac {1}{(4k+2)^{2}}}\right)=\left(1-{\frac {1}{4}}\right)\left(1-{\frac {1}{36}}\right)\left(1-{\frac {1}{100}}\right)\cdots$

and

${\sqrt {2}}=\prod _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(4k+2)^{2}}{(4k+1)(4k+3)}}=\left({\frac {2\cdot 2}{1\cdot 3}}\right)\left({\frac {6\cdot 6}{5\cdot 7}}\right)\left({\frac {10\cdot 10}{9\cdot 11}}\right)\left({\frac {14\cdot 14}{13\cdot 15}}\right)\cdots$

or equivalently,

${\sqrt {2}}=\prod _{k=0}^{\infty }\left(1+{\frac {1}{4k+1}}\right)\left(1-{\frac {1}{4k+3}}\right)=\left(1+{\frac {1}{1}}\right)\left(1-{\frac {1}{3}}\right)\left(1+{\frac {1}{5}}\right)\left(1-{\frac {1}{7}}\right)\cdots .$

The number can also be expressed by taking the Taylor series of a trigonometric function. For example, the series for cos(π/4) gives

${\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}}}=\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{k}\left({\frac {\pi }{4}}\right)^{2k}}{(2k)!}}.$

The Taylor series of √(1+x) with x = 1 gives

${\sqrt {2}}=\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }(-1)^{k+1}{\frac {(2k-3)!!}{(2k)!!}}=1+{\frac {1}{2}}-{\frac {1}{2\cdot 4}}+{\frac {1\cdot 3}{2\cdot 4\cdot 6}}-{\frac {1\cdot 3\cdot 5}{2\cdot 4\cdot 6\cdot 8}}+\cdots .$

The convergence of this series can be accelerated with an Euler transform, producing

${\sqrt {2}}=\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(2k+1)!}{(k!)^{2}2^{3k+1}}}={\frac {1}{2}}+{\frac {3}{8}}+{\frac {15}{64}}+{\frac {35}{256}}+{\frac {315}{4096}}+{\frac {693}{16384}}+\cdots .$

It is not known whether √2 can be represented with a BBP-type formula. BBP-type formulas are known for π√2 and √2 ln(1+√2), however. [5]

See also

• The square root of two is the aspect ratio of paper sizes under ISO 216.

References

• Apostol, Tom M. (2000). "Irrationality of The Square Root of Two—A Geometric Proof". The American Mathematical Monthly. 107 (9): 841–842. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |quotes= and |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Flannery, David (2005). The Square Root of Two. Springer. ISBN 0-387-20220-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Fowler, David (1998). "Square Root Approximations in Old Babylonian Mathematics: YBC 7289 in Context" (PDF). Historia Mathematica. 25 (4): 366–378. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |quotes= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Gourdon, X. & Sebah, P. Pythagoras' Constant: √2. Includes information on how to compute digits of ${\sqrt {2}}$.
• Henderson, David W., Square Roots in the Sulbasutra
• Weisstein, Eric W. "Pythagoras's Constant". MathWorld.

External links

• The Square Root of Two to 5 million digits by Jerry Bonnell and Robert Nemiroff. May, 1994.
• Square root of 2 is irrational, a collection of proofs
• √2.net, enthusiast site with realtime computation
• Square root