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Technically, it should be called the principal square root of 2, to distinguish it from the negative number with the same property. Geometrically, the square root of 2 is the length of a diagonal across a square with sides of one unit of length; this follows from the Pythagorean theorem. It was probably the first number known to be irrational. [1]
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 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 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.
The square root of 2 is irrational, and 3 is rational. is also irrational: if it were equal to , then, by the properties of logarithms, 9 n would be equal to 2 m, but the former is odd, and the latter is even. A more substantial example is the graph minor theorem.
For example, direct proof can be used to prove that the sum of two even integers is always even: Consider two even integers x and y. Since they are even, they can be written as x = 2a and y = 2b, respectively, for some integers a and b. Then the sum is x + y = 2a + 2b = 2(a+b). Therefore x+y has 2 as a factor and, by definition, is even. Hence ...