Saturday, 3 June 2017

elementary number theory - Proving that the square root of 5 is irrational


Prove that $\sqrt{5}$ is irrational.




I begin with the identity $(\sqrt{5} + 2 )(\sqrt{5} - 2 ) = 1$.



Then I am told to extract $\sqrt{5}$ from the first or second factor and consider it to be $\frac{m}{n}$ so I should replace it in both sides.



I have $$\frac{m}{n} = (\frac{1}{\frac{m}{n}} + 2) + 2.$$




I am also told to work on the right side until I have a denominator less than $n$ and I have to explain the reasoning.



Then I have to prove this is false by contradiction.



Right now my main problem is I can't get a denominator less than $n$.

No comments:

Post a Comment

real analysis - How to find $lim_{hrightarrow 0}frac{sin(ha)}{h}$

How to find $\lim_{h\rightarrow 0}\frac{\sin(ha)}{h}$ without lhopital rule? I know when I use lhopital I easy get $$ \lim_{h\rightarrow 0}...