SOLUTION: how do you find a non-perfect square root.

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Question 250761: how do you find a non-perfect square root.

Answer by drk(1908) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Here is a pretty cool Babylonian system:
Let the number you are given be N.
We want sqrt(N).
N can be expressed as a^2 +-b.
sqrt%28N%29+=+sqrt%28a%5E2%2B-b%29
The estimate is A +- b/2a.
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ex: sqrt(20)
srt(20) = sqrt(4^2 + 4)
sqrt(20) ~ 4 + 4 / 2*4 ~ 4 + 1/2 ~ 4.5.
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ex: sqrt(53)
sqrt(53) = sqrt (7^2 + 4)
sqrt(53) ~ 7 + 4 / 2*7 ~ 7 + 2/7 ~ 7.28.
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Now, practice on your own.