Prove that square root of 6 is irrational by contradiction .

atgnybo4fq

atgnybo4fq

Answered question

2022-11-22

Prove that square root of 6 is irrational by contradiction .

Answer & Explanation

Pignatpmv

Pignatpmv

Beginner2022-11-23Added 22 answers

Assume that ( 6 ) is rational.
Then ( 6 ) = p q where p and q are coprime integers.
6 2 = 6 = p 2 q 2
p 2 = 6 q 2
therefore p 2 is an even number since an even number multiplied by any other integer is also an even number. If p 2 is even then p must also be even since if p were odd, an odd number multiplied by an odd number would also be odd.
So we can replace p with 2k where k is an integer.
( 2 k ) 2 = 6 q 2 4 k 2 = 6 q 2 2 k 2 = 3 q 2
Now we see that 3 q 2 is even. For 3 q 2 to be even, q 2 must be even since 3 is odd and an odd times an even number is even. And by the same argument above, if q 2 is even then q is even.
So both p and q are even which means both are divisible by 2. But that means they are not coprime, contradicting our assumption so sqrt(6) is not rational.

Do you have a similar question?

Recalculate according to your conditions!

Ask your question.
Get an expert answer.

Let our experts help you. Answer in as fast as 15 minutes.

Didn't find what you were looking for?