Title: | Rational Approximations of $\sqrt{2}$: An Introduction to Isosceles Almost Right Triangles |
Speaker: | David Friday, '04 Instructor Mathematics Macomb Community College Clinton Township, Michigan |
Abstract: | While visiting the Calculus and Physical Sciences Tutorial Lab at Grand Rapids Community College, a question was posed: for what values of $n$ will the sum of the first $n$ positive integers be a perfect square? A thorough investigation of the problem and the introduction of the concept of an isosceles "almost" right triangle yielded a number of interesting results. One of the results involves a sequence of rational numbers that converges to $\sqrt{2}$, yielding some excellent approximations. |
Location: | Palenske 227 |
Date: | 10/11/2012 |
Time: | 3:30 PM |
@abstract{MCS:Colloquium:DavidFriday'04:2012:10:11, author = "{David Friday, '04}", title = "{Rational Approximations of $\sqrt{2}$: An Introduction to Isosceles Almost Right Triangles}", address = "{Albion College Mathematics and Computer Science Colloquium}", month = "{11 October}", year = "{2012}" }