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Prove that 1/root 2 is irrational?
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Prove that 1/root 2 is irrational?
Proof that 1/√2 is irrational:



  1. Assumption:

  2. Let's assume that √2 is rational.

    This means that it can be expressed as a fraction in the form of p/q, where p and q are integers with no common factors other than 1, and q is not equal to 0.


  3. Squaring both sides:

  4. If we square both sides of the equation √2 = p/q, we get:

    2 = (p^2)/(q^2)

    2q^2 = p^2


  5. Consequences of squaring:

  6. From the equation 2q^2 = p^2, we can observe that p^2 is an even number since it is divisible by 2.

    According to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, any even number can be expressed as the product of 2 and another integer.

    Thus, we can write p^2 as p^2 = 2k, where k is an integer.

    Substituting this back into the equation, we get:

    2q^2 = 2k

    q^2 = k


  7. Consequences of q^2 = k:

  8. From the equation q^2 = k, we can conclude that q^2 is also an even number.

    Following the same reasoning as before, we can express q^2 as q^2 = 2m, where m is an integer.

    Substituting this back into the equation, we get:

    2m = k


  9. Contradiction:

  10. We have now concluded that p^2 = 2k and 2m = k, where both p and q are even numbers.

    This implies that p and q have a common factor of 2, contradicting our initial assumption that p and q have no common factors other than 1.

    Therefore, our assumption that √2 is rational must be false.


  11. Conclusion:

  12. Since we have proved that √2 is irrational, we can conclude that 1/√2 is also irrational.



Summary:

By assuming that √2 is rational and following the logical consequences of squaring both sides, we arrived at a contradiction. This proves that √2 is irrational and, consequently, 1/√2 is also irrational.
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Prove that 1/root 2 is irrational?
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