Square Root Algorithms

Square root algorithms are important from many points of view. They provide the first examples of irrational numbers. Stevin division gives all possible rational numbers in decimal notation. Square roots of a number that is not a square is always an irrational number, and \(\sqrt{2}\) is the first known irrational number, discovered by a scholar of Pythagoras’ school (V century BC). The square root is a determinant in Archimedes’ evaluation of \(\pi \) , and finally, the computation of decimal logarithms by Henry Brigg was based on the square root.