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The square root of 2 (approximately 1.4142) is the positive real number that, ... is irrational. This proof was hinted at by Aristotle, in his Analytica Priora, ...
The proof that the square root of 2 (√ 2) is irrational (i.e. cannot be expressed as a fraction of two whole numbers) was discovered by the ancient Greeks, and is perhaps the earliest known example of a proof by infinite descent.
The square root of the Gelfond–Schneider constant is the transcendental number = 1.632 526 919 438 152 844 77.... This same constant can be used to prove that "an irrational elevated to an irrational power may be rational", even without first proving its transcendence.
2.1 Irrational numbers. 3 References. ... , the square root of 2. Plato in his Theaetetus, [27] ... The method is a proof by contradiction, ...
The square root of 2 was likely the first number proved irrational. [27] The golden ratio is another famous quadratic irrational number. The square roots of all natural numbers that are not perfect squares are irrational and a proof may be found in quadratic irrationals.
The proof by Pythagoras about 500 BCE has had a profound effect on mathematics. It shows that the square root of 2 cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers. The proof bifurcated "the numbers" into two non-overlapping collections—the rational numbers and the irrational numbers.
For example, the square root of 2 is an irrational number, but it is not a transcendental number as it is a root of the polynomial equation x 2 − 2 = 0. The golden ratio (denoted or ) is another irrational number that is not transcendental, as it is a root of the polynomial equation x 2 − x − 1 = 0.
The classic proof that the square root of 2 is irrational is a refutation by contradiction. [11] Indeed, we set out to prove the negation ¬ ∃ a, b ∈ . a/b = √ 2 by assuming that there exist natural numbers a and b whose ratio is the square root of two, and derive a contradiction.