59.

3 The Irrationality of 2
Author(s): T. Estermann
Source: The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 59, No. 408 (Jun., 1975), p. 110
Published by: The Mathematical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3616647
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110 THE MATHEMATICAL GAZETTE

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Notes
59.3 The irrationality of ,/2

The following proof of the irrationality of /2 seems to me simpler than

that which is usually attributed to Pythagoras.
Let S be the set of those natural numbers n for which nV/2 is an integer.
If S were not empty, it would have a least element k, say. Consider the
number (,/2 - l)k. Then
(/2 - l)kV2 = 2k-kV2,
and, since k E S, both (2/2 - l)k and 2k - kV/2 are natural numbers. So,
by definition (V/2 - l)k E S. But (V/2 - l)k < k, contradicting the assump-
tion that k is the least element of S. Hence S is empty, which means that \/2
is irrational.
If in this proof we replace 2 by any natural number h whose square root
is not an integer, and replace 1 by the greatest integer less than \/h, we
obtain a proof that the square root of any natural number is either an
integer or irrational.
T. ESTERMANN

2 Lyndale Avenue, London NW2 2P Y

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