Sunday, 22 December 2019

Rational approximation for irrational number



Sometimes I go into some subject in the class (high school level) and I have to explain to my students how approximate an irrational number by a sequence of rationals. The problem is that I should explain that in a high school level. What I usually do is take π as a example and take the sequence:
3,1=31/103,14=314/1003,141=3141/10003,1415=31415/10000
I think that approach is intuitive and the students feel satisfacted with that. I was trying to figure out another way to explain the rational approximation but I coudn't find any. My questions is, does anyone know another way to explain that approximation in a high school level?



Thanks in advance.


Answer



Newton's method for square roots can be a good candidate due to its simplicity.




For example for approximating 2 in few iterations. You can ask your students where do they think 2 is located. Between 1.41 and 1.42, then you can start with x0=1.41



g(x)=x(x22)2x



g(1.41)=1.41(1.4122)21.41=1.4142198581...



g(1.4142198581)=1.41421356232


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