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Irrational Root 2!

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  • čas přidán 10. 04. 2024
  • In this video, we introduce and prove the "Carpets Theorem" and then utilize the theorem to prove that both the square root of two and the square root of three are irrational by a visual infinite descent argument.
    If you like this video, consider subscribing to the channel or consider buying me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/VisualPr.... Thanks!
    This animation is based on an argument from Stanley Tennebaum. If you are interested, I recommend this article from John Conway and Joseph Shipman about the irrationality of square root of two (and others):
    dev.mccme.ru/~merzon/mirror/ma...
    #irrationalnumbers #realnumbers​ #manim​ #math​ #mtbos​ ​ #animation​ #theorem​​ #visualproof​ #proof​ #iteachmath #mathematics #irrational #carpetstheorem #proofbycontradiction #root2 #algebra #infinitedescent
    To learn more about animating with manim, check out:
    manim.community

Komentáře • 125

  • @YouTube_username_not_found
    @YouTube_username_not_found Před 3 měsíci +613

    Infinite descent!

  • @piecesofmathematics
    @piecesofmathematics Před 3 měsíci +277

    Beautiful proof! Thank you!

  • @jan-timolobner
    @jan-timolobner Před 3 měsíci +161

    I finally understood one of your videos.
    I might not understand every video, but I am determined to learn, so thank you for your hard work on these awesome videos.

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před 3 měsíci +27

      Happy to hear that! Keep it up. It takes time and I do rely on other facts

    • @alegoncalves472
      @alegoncalves472 Před 3 měsíci +7

      Beautiful to hear that!!! Hope to be like that as well mate 🤗🤗🤗🤗 greetings from Venezuela!!!

    • @GiganFTW
      @GiganFTW Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@alegoncalves472shouldnt you be hunting for dogs in the street instead of trying to learn math from youtube?

    • @alegoncalves472
      @alegoncalves472 Před 2 měsíci

      @@GiganFTW Math must be understood in order to hack the city mate 😁😂😂😂

  • @nargacugalover
    @nargacugalover Před 3 měsíci +107

    Luckily 2! is still 2. So the title is still right in a way

    • @orisphera
      @orisphera Před 3 měsíci +29

      So r/unexpectedfactorial didn't change the meaning in this case

    • @nargacugalover
      @nargacugalover Před 3 měsíci +3

      @@orisphera yep

    • @ahmadmneimneh
      @ahmadmneimneh Před 3 měsíci +1

      ​@@orisphera r/ihavereddit

    • @orisphera
      @orisphera Před 3 měsíci

      @@ahmadmneimneh r/ihaveihavereddit

    • @ahmadmneimneh
      @ahmadmneimneh Před 3 měsíci +1

      @@orisphera I shall summon the cursed subreddit, r/ihaveihaveihavereddit

  • @Emily-fm7pt
    @Emily-fm7pt Před 3 měsíci +46

    I appreciate the elegance of the proof! Especially the last part I feel is more intuitive than the usual “you can always divide by two,” because in this case it’s clear that you’ll eventually just run out of positive integers to work with, which causes the contradiction

    • @Fire_Axus
      @Fire_Axus Před 3 měsíci

      your feelings are irrational

    • @aymangani5416
      @aymangani5416 Před 3 měsíci

      @@Fire_Axusyour mass commenting is irrational… do something better with ur time lol

  • @holyek7892
    @holyek7892 Před 3 měsíci +14

    These videos make me so happy and mad. Where were they when I needed them in geometry and calculus? They make everything so clear and comprehensible.

    • @Fire_Axus
      @Fire_Axus Před 3 měsíci

      your feelings are irrational

  • @Ninja20704
    @Ninja20704 Před 3 měsíci +12

    I really like these geometric proofs because I was only ever taught algebraic proofs for proving this such as the classic proof, or other things like the FTA or rational zero theorem. Thank you for teaching me new things

    • @maxborn7400
      @maxborn7400 Před 3 měsíci +1

      before algebra, people specifically used geometric proofs. That's why it took a while before people accepted negative solutions to a quadratic formula, because it seemed "nonsense" to accept x = -2 for x^2 = 4.

  • @dragansantrac4011
    @dragansantrac4011 Před 3 měsíci +62

    Wow. One of the best proofs of irrationality of sqrt(2)

    • @Fire_Axus
      @Fire_Axus Před 3 měsíci +2

      no

    • @bd8037
      @bd8037 Před 3 měsíci

      @@Fire_Axusyes one of the best visual proofs. You are wrong

  • @jakobr_
    @jakobr_ Před 3 měsíci +11

    I feel like there’s a missing step where it’s explained that b is between a and a/2 so that the small carpets can overlap like that

    • @bobh6728
      @bobh6728 Před 3 měsíci +1

      If the two smaller didn’t overlap, then a^2 wouldn’t equal 2b^2, because a^2 would just be the 2b^2 plus the uncovered area. So a^2 would be larger then 2b^2.
      So pointing that out missing.

    • @Fire_Axus
      @Fire_Axus Před 3 měsíci +1

      your feelings are irrational

  • @MathFromAlphaToOmega
    @MathFromAlphaToOmega Před 3 měsíci +5

    If you go in the other direction with increasing pairs, you'll get better and better approximations to sqrt(2). Those should correspond to solutions to Pell's equation a^2-2b^2=±1.

    • @jessehammer123
      @jessehammer123 Před 3 měsíci +1

      Well, as long as your original pair satisfies the Pell equation. If you start with, say, (8,5) instead of (7,5), the ratio tends to phi instead of sqrt(2).

    • @MathFromAlphaToOmega
      @MathFromAlphaToOmega Před 3 měsíci +1

      @@jessehammer123 You won't always get solutions to Pell's equation, but the ratio should always approach sqrt(2). Assuming my calculations are right, (8,5) becomes (18,13), and then one more iteration gives (44,31). The ratio of those is pretty close to sqrt(2).

    • @zytr0x108
      @zytr0x108 Před 2 měsíci

      You're right! I wrote a Julia program to try it out:
      a = b = 1
      sr2 = sqrt(2)
      while (a/b != sr2)
      a = a + 2*b
      b = a - b
      println("$a / $b = $(a/b)")
      end
      On my machine, the loop exits after 21 iterations when it gets to the maximum precision a Float64 can hold.

  • @tamaz88
    @tamaz88 Před 3 měsíci +15

    This would have been a perfect video to be made into a loop, but looks like we didn’t get to see that

    • @ThreadedNail
      @ThreadedNail Před 3 měsíci

      Or, did you?

    • @tamaz88
      @tamaz88 Před 3 měsíci

      @@ThreadedNail VSauce reference ❓❓❓

    • @canyoupoop
      @canyoupoop Před 3 měsíci

      ​And as always, thanks for watching​@@tamaz88

    • @ThreadedNail
      @ThreadedNail Před 3 měsíci

      @@tamaz88 its a math loop. So the reference fit.

  • @babusseus1105
    @babusseus1105 Před 2 měsíci +2

    Cool proof!

  • @AndrewBalm
    @AndrewBalm Před 3 měsíci +2

    Simple and intuitive. Amazing!

  • @hidude1354
    @hidude1354 Před 3 měsíci +1

    awesome! love how the well ordering axiom can prop up in fun ways

  • @matthewbay1978
    @matthewbay1978 Před 3 měsíci +1

    I love that proof, proving root two is irrational is part of my favorite proof which proves you can raise an irrational number to an irrational number and get a rational number.

  • @orisphera
    @orisphera Před 3 měsíci +1

    I prefer the following instead of infinite descent:
    Take the smallest counterexample. By the step, there's a smaller one. This is a contradiction.
    You can note that this is essentially a special case of a reasoning that under a slightly different formulation is known as transfinite induction. It's similar to induction, but more powerful. It's also proven differently. Normal induction is proven from the definition of natural numbers (and 0) as ones reachable by the operations. (By “reachable”, I mean present in every set closed under them.) Transfinite induction is essentially the well-orderedness (existence of the smallest in every subset) of the natural numbers (or whatever set you're using), although for N it may be easier formulated as the normal induction over prefixes

  • @tweep978
    @tweep978 Před 3 měsíci +1

    This is the best explanation of this I've ever seen

  • @noahblack914
    @noahblack914 Před 2 měsíci +4

    Took me a minute to figure out why a^2=2b^2 means √2 is rational.
    If √2 is rational, then there exists integers a, b where a/b = √2. Multiply both sides by b and then square them.

  • @MateusMuila
    @MateusMuila Před 2 měsíci +1

    This demonstration is a genius move

  • @chixenlegjo
    @chixenlegjo Před 2 měsíci +2

    Nice proof, but I’ll propose my personal favorite:
    The exponents in the prime factorization of a perfect square are always even. When you multiply this perfect square by a prime number, the exponent in that prime factor becomes odd. This means that you cannot multiply a perfect square by any prime number to get a perfect square. Therefore, the square root of any prime number is irrational.

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před 2 měsíci

      A good one for sure. Hard to do it visually though :)

  • @lenskihe
    @lenskihe Před 3 měsíci +1

    Nice one!

  • @user-ww8rd6oj5u
    @user-ww8rd6oj5u Před 3 měsíci +2

    All is well
    🎉🎉🎉

  • @ValkyRiver
    @ValkyRiver Před 3 měsíci +1

    By the way, Mathologer also made a video with a similar trick on root3, root5, and root6

  • @kexcz8276
    @kexcz8276 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Wow, cool, yet I know I will forgot that lin like next 10 mins... 😂

  • @bluebow9347
    @bluebow9347 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Magnificent!

  • @narfharder
    @narfharder Před 3 měsíci +1

    For a long time something vaguely bothered me about this particular proof by contradiction, now I've finally put my finger on it. Thanks for the epiphany! (Surely this has been thought of before, I'm just an armchair amateur who wouldn't even know what book to read about it.)
    Consider this is really a proof that √2 is not rational. So, either "irrational" is merely defined as not rational, meaning we have only proven a contradiction by contradiction; or, if "irrational" has a positive definition, then we must first prove that "rational" and "irrational" are in fact mutually exclusive.
    Now I wonder if these two ways of defining "irrational" are themselves mutually exclusive - so, what obvious thing have I missed?

    • @Ninja20704
      @Ninja20704 Před 3 měsíci

      Irrational are only really definable as “not rational” so that automatically makes them mutually exclusive.
      There is no positive definition of irrationals because there is no specific form or anything that all irrational numbers fit/satisfy.

    • @Emily-fm7pt
      @Emily-fm7pt Před 3 měsíci +4

      The definition of rationality that’s most often applied is “a number is rational if it can be written as a ratio of two coprime (irreducible) integers,” and thus irrational is anything that cannot be represented under that system. Though, an important thing you start to realize as you go further into advanced math is that most big concepts have a bunch of different (provably) equivalent definitions, and it’s really just about picking which one is most convenient at the time. In this case, most proofs are based on showing that any ratio will be infinitely reducible, causing a contradiction, so this definition is favorable compared to something like a more set theory focused definition.
      If you are interested in this stuff, it’s never too late to just start learning math! Anyone with knowledge from Algebra 2 read most undergrad level math textbooks tbh

    • @narfharder
      @narfharder Před 3 měsíci +1

      Well, I found the "book" I needed to fill my knowledge gap. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_root_of_2#Constructive_proof gives a proof that √2 _is a number_ that cannot be rational, while all the proofs by contradiction only prove that _if it is a number,_ it cannot be a rational one - leaving it undecided whether √2∈ℝ.

    • @sigmaoctantis5083
      @sigmaoctantis5083 Před 3 měsíci +2

      @@narfharder I think you are making this more complicated than necessary: all common proofs of "the irrationality of √2" show that there is no rational number a/b whose square equals 2. They don't need any assumptions about whether √2 _is_ a number. This is a different story: since √2 naturally occurs as the length of a diagonal in a unit square, it should be a number, and therefore we are well-advised to extend the rational numbers to the reals or at least the algebraic numbers.

  • @stephenliao63
    @stephenliao63 Před 2 měsíci

    simplify sqrt to r
    a/b = r(2) for some a,b inZ+, gcd(a,b)=1
    a=r(2)b
    aa=2bb
    lhs has factor 2 but there are two a so 4 | a
    Thus 4 | 2bb and this imply 2 | bb
    Which means 2 is factor of b
    So gcd(a,b) does not equal to one. Therefore, no such coprime integer pair (a,b) exists
    I think this is the same to the video but in different way of recursively decreasing a and b
    If we use the well ordered property of integer and state (a,b) is the least element satisfying the equation then we do not have to state the recursive part

  • @TannerJ07
    @TannerJ07 Před 3 měsíci +1

    It would be cool to show it for perfect squares so the difference is visible

  • @tellusorbit
    @tellusorbit Před měsícem

    There is a far simpler proof of the square root of two being irrational I used to demonstrate to my students which didn't involve either geometry or algebra. It was an indirect proof that used simple elementary school arithmetic. My students loved it.

  • @erberlon
    @erberlon Před 2 měsíci

    It might have been helpful to explicit that such an infinite sequence cannot exist because the positive integers are a finite going down.

  • @rohitjohn6180
    @rohitjohn6180 Před 3 měsíci +1

    What if instead of two, we try to prove sqrt(4) is irrational? Does it still work?

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před 3 měsíci

      Can’t do it. Because 4 1x1 squares actually fit perfectly in a 2x2 square. No overlap so no carpets theorem infinite descent.

    • @rohitjohn6180
      @rohitjohn6180 Před 3 měsíci

      I see thanks

  • @DanDart
    @DanDart Před 3 měsíci

    I'm interested to know if there's a proof not involving contradiction, or if that can't exist. I'm category theorying this real abstract stuff.

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před 3 měsíci

      They all have to use contradiction I think-though some are better at hiding it :)

  • @jimnewton4534
    @jimnewton4534 Před 3 měsíci +2

    why is (2b-a)

    • @KDev-fq9iq
      @KDev-fq9iq Před 3 měsíci +1

      Since a>b , say a=b+x
      Implies 2b -a = 2b-b-x= b-x
      Seemingly ,a > 2b-a
      Now , let's say a-b =b in that case a^2 = 4b^2 { a=2b} which is not our assumption as we considered a^2= 2b^2
      Therefore , b has to be >1/2 of a
      Implying that a-b

    • @dazai826
      @dazai826 Před 3 měsíci +4

      b^2 < a^2 (talking only in natural numbers ) so b

  • @user-xu9gb9zv9u
    @user-xu9gb9zv9u Před 3 měsíci

    How did you get the first equation (a^2=2b^2)?

  • @MdTanvir-eh6so
    @MdTanvir-eh6so Před 3 měsíci +1

    I love mathematics ❤❤

  • @JordanBeagle
    @JordanBeagle Před 2 měsíci +1

    It's squares all the way down!

  • @joaoneves4150
    @joaoneves4150 Před 3 měsíci +1

    You could've included this in the video: Sqrt(2) = a/b

  • @slayeryt637
    @slayeryt637 Před 3 měsíci +1

    Proof by contradiction :)

  • @evdokimovm
    @evdokimovm Před měsícem

    But (2b - a)^2 is not equals to 2(a - b)^2 if we open brackets. (2b - a)^2 = a^2 - 4ab + 4b^2 and 2(a - b)^2 = 2a^2 - 4ab + 2b^2

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před měsícem

      But remember that our assumption is that a^2=2b^2

    • @evdokimovm
      @evdokimovm Před měsícem

      ​@@MathVisualProofs Oh, right! I forgot that. Now we get `2b^2 - 4ab + 4b^2` and `4b^2 - 4ab + 2b^2`. Sorry for another perhaps silly question, but does not the fact that they are equal mean that the sqrt(2) is rational?

  • @tdubmorris5757
    @tdubmorris5757 Před 3 měsíci

    You forgot to explain how we get a^2 = 2b^2 which is confusing, I had to look it up
    √2 = a/b
    2 = a^2/b^2 (power 2 both sides)
    2b^2 = a^2 (multiply by b^2)

  • @lkytmryan
    @lkytmryan Před 3 měsíci

    I was just thinking That.

  • @99.googolplex.percent
    @99.googolplex.percent Před 3 měsíci

    Everything means something. That's why this guy says "this means" so much.

  • @David-bh7hs
    @David-bh7hs Před 3 měsíci

    But it doesn’t? How can I suppose it?

  • @jesse_cole
    @jesse_cole Před 2 měsíci +1

    Quick, somebody explain this to Terrence Howard.

  • @platonicgeometryportal5567
    @platonicgeometryportal5567 Před měsícem

    You are showing a geometric sequence with an arithmetic proof?

  • @roberteospeedwagon3708
    @roberteospeedwagon3708 Před 3 měsíci

    why does this work for actual squares?

  • @anisurrahaman4490
    @anisurrahaman4490 Před 3 měsíci

    But ....i think...
    the side length of a square may be irritationl...then it will hold

  • @Rutherford_Sam
    @Rutherford_Sam Před 3 měsíci +1

    I must've messed up somewhere. This feels right, but wrong.

  • @Cruizzerr
    @Cruizzerr Před měsícem

    Why can't such a list of decreasing positive integers exist?

  • @suhnih4076
    @suhnih4076 Před 3 měsíci

    😮

  • @JuliusDofarios
    @JuliusDofarios Před 2 měsíci

    Sorry, I do not understand. Never was Sqrt2 mentioned except the end and it was rushed. What are you proposing?

    • @shilohmagic7173
      @shilohmagic7173 Před 2 měsíci

      it's just a proof for why square root 2 is irrational, I think.

  • @brandon.m
    @brandon.m Před 3 měsíci

    This is definitely a different proof for the sqrt(2) not being rational, but I would like to nitpick that you showed that if the sqrt(2) does exist, then it cannot be rational. You did not show sqrt(2) is irrational though since you did not show its existence.

  • @JustRandomLights
    @JustRandomLights Před 3 měsíci

    Too bad we don't have a perfect square that's exactly half of another perfect square, cause then we could just have their square roots as the numerator and denominator😞

  • @3_14pie
    @3_14pie Před 2 měsíci +1

    turtles all the way down

  • @nilsalmgren4492
    @nilsalmgren4492 Před měsícem

    I think mosr people accept the fact that unless you are taking a square root of a squared number, the result is irrational.

  • @adamosburn754
    @adamosburn754 Před 3 měsíci

    🤔🧐 A golden square…

  • @deon6045
    @deon6045 Před 3 měsíci

    So is 'a' the square root of 2, and 'b' is equal to 1?
    Without the context, it just feels like you threw a random ab equation at me.

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před 3 měsíci

      I say “suppose that root 2 is rational so that there are integers a and b with … “
      Root 2 is not an integer

    • @deon6045
      @deon6045 Před 3 měsíci

      ​@@MathVisualProofs To be fair, I missed that, but I don't think you appreciate how little that explains to someone out of the know, and too out of practice to easily infer how you jump from assuming the root is rational, to the area of random squares.
      If I am taking a second guess... Are we dealing with squares, because both sides of the equation were squared so that we would have a solid 2, rather than 'a = b*(2^1/2)' ?

  • @GD-wg4yl
    @GD-wg4yl Před 3 měsíci

    My teacher lied...

  • @mohammadyusufchaudhary7121
    @mohammadyusufchaudhary7121 Před 3 měsíci

    Bro , √ 2 =

  • @DrPillePalle
    @DrPillePalle Před 3 měsíci +1

    Beautiful proof but you are going way too fast.

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před 3 měsíci

      yes. hard to get in 60seconds. The linked video is longer and slower. I get to take my time there :)

  • @user-jz7vf5iq7h
    @user-jz7vf5iq7h Před 3 měsíci

    this isn't a perfect proof.
    there's a similar, yet more complete, proof by requiring that the ratio a/b is in simple form. meaning a and b are coprimes.
    it can be proven that both must be even. which is a contradiction.

    • @RunstarHomer
      @RunstarHomer Před 3 měsíci

      What is missing from this proof?

    • @hidude1354
      @hidude1354 Před 3 měsíci

      this is a perfectly fine proof. he hasn't formalized the ending but this is completely valid

  • @nbecnbec
    @nbecnbec Před 3 měsíci

    I think it's more intuitive if you take a definition of rationality we are A and B are in lowest terms, similar to the classic proof

  • @velmrok1660
    @velmrok1660 Před 3 měsíci

    ( (a-b) + (a-b) )² , you cant do 2(a-b)² xd

  • @salerio61
    @salerio61 Před 3 měsíci

    I don't like that as a proof

  • @rajulsomaiya
    @rajulsomaiya Před 2 měsíci

    There is a simpler way to prove

  • @ytbvdshrtnr
    @ytbvdshrtnr Před 3 měsíci

    If √2 is rational it can be written as
    √2 = a/b
    This would make a² = 2b²
    a² would be odd if a is odd so a must be even.
    a² would be divisible by 4 if a is even so b² must be even, so b must be even.
    But if a and b are both even, a/b could be reduced to a fraction where one of them is odd, which wouldn't satisfy a² = 2b².
    Therefore, √2 can't be written as a/b.

  • @Jivvi
    @Jivvi Před 3 měsíci

    If 𝒂 and 𝒃 are the smallest integers for which this is true, then it follows that 𝒃 = 𝒂 - 𝒃 (which is true if 𝒂 = 2𝒃) and also that 𝒂 = 2𝒃 - 𝒂 (which is true if 𝒂 = 𝒃). All of this can only be true if 𝒂 = 𝒃 = 0, so the square root of 2 must be 0.

    • @hidude1354
      @hidude1354 Před 3 měsíci

      how does it follow that b = a - b?

    • @Jivvi
      @Jivvi Před 3 měsíci

      @@hidude1354 If 𝒂 and 𝒃 are the smallest integers for which this is true, and it's also true for the integers (2𝒃 - 𝒂) and (𝒂 - 𝒃), those integers can't be _smaller_ than 𝒂 and 𝒃, because of the first premise, so they must be the same.
      It could also be possible that it's the other way around, so 𝒂 = 𝒂 - 𝒃, and 𝒃 = 2𝒃 - 𝒂.
      But the result is the same, because 𝒂 = 𝒂 - 𝒃 gives us 𝒃 = 0, and 𝒃 = 2𝒃 - 𝒂 gives us 𝒂 = 𝒃.

  • @canyoupoop
    @canyoupoop Před 3 měsíci

    Damn.

  • @john.john.johnny
    @john.john.johnny Před 3 měsíci

    I truly wish I could understand this cuz I feel so close to understanding but anyway

    • @MathVisualProofs
      @MathVisualProofs  Před 3 měsíci

      Try the linked longer version. It’s slower and includes the carpets theorem.