This weekend I went through a few proofs that the square root of 2 is irrational.
- The elementary proof is the one that everyone sees. You assume
that √2 can be represented as pq where p
and q share no common factors, that is gcd. By
multiplying out both sides you're lead to the result that both
p and q must have 2 as a factor. See
Wikipedia for the proof. - The second proof is a stronger result, and relies on the
fundamental theorem of arithmetic to prove that \sqrt{p}
where p is a prime number must be irrational. - The third proof again relies on the fundamental theorem of
arithmetic and states that \sqrt[k]{n}, the k-th root of a
number n that is not a perfect k-th power is irrational. - The fourth proof is one that I hadn't seen before. It is
elementary and of course Wikipedia has it. I like the one I found
in Galois Theory by Ian Stewart:- Assume that there exist integers a, b with b \neq 0 such
that (a/b)^2=2. - Show that we may assume a,b > 0.
- Observe that if such an expression exists, then there must be
one in which b is as small as possible. - Show that (\frac{2b-a}{a-b})^2 = 2.
- Show that 2b-a>0,a-b>0.
- Show that a-b<b, a contradiction.
- Assume that there exist integers a, b with b \neq 0 such
- The fifth proof uses the rational root theorem on the
polynomial x^2-2=0.