Vivian Li 12C

26th March, 2008

Introduction:
In this portfolio, I am going to investigate the infinite surds. For
example the sequence of the following surd:

a1=

a2=

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26th March, 2008

a3= etc

First I will find a general formula for the surd above, then I will
investigate the relationship between n and an. After had try and
explain one set of surd, I will then set another set of surd and
investigate it. After that, I will consider the general infinite surd
and find an expression for the exact value of the general infinite
surd in terms of k. Then I will test the validity of the general
statement using other values of k, and I will discuss the scope
and limitations of the general statement.

The decimal values of the first ten terms of the sequences:

a1= = 1.414214

a 2= = 1.553774

a 3= = 1.598053

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a4= = 1.611848

a 5= = 1.616121

a 6= = 1.617443

a 7= = 1.617851

a8= = 1.617978

a 9= = 1.618017

a10= = 1.618029

n an+1 n an+1
1 1.553774 11 1.618032323
2 1.053 12 1.618033474
3 1.611848 13 1.618033830
4 1.616121 14 1.618033940
5 1.617443 15 1.618033974
6 1.617851 16 1.618033984
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7 1.617978 17 1.618033987
8 1.618017 18 1.618033988
9 1.618029 19 1.618033989
10 1.618032 20 1.618033989
The general formula for an+1 in terms of an will be:
an+1= (By inspection)

After calculating the value of an+1, a graph Is then be plotted.

Graph of an+1=

Fig 1.1

Fig 1.1

Through Fig 1.1, we can see the values of an is increasing rapidly

for the first few terms, then the values of an approaches to a certain
value as we can see in the graph. As n gets larger, the limit of the
surd is closes to 1.62, also we can see from the graph, the values of
an- an+1 is very close to zero. This suggest that:

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26th March, 2008

The exact value of this infinite surd will be:

Let an+1= an= x
X=
X2=

(1.62) OR (Rejected)

The reason of being rejected is because the sum of

positive numbers can’t be negative number.

After had try and explain one set of surd, I will then set another

set of surd to investigate. This time I will try

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26th March, 2008

where the first term is .

a1=

a2=

a3=

a10=

Graph of an+1=

Fig 1.2

As we can see in Fig 1.2, the graph is look similar to Fig 1.1. Fig 1.1
When the values of an is getting larger, the limit of the surd is closes
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26th March, 2008
to 2, also we can see that the difference between an and an+1 is very
close to zero.

General formula:
an+1=

Again let an+1= an= x

As I have proved above, when n gets larger, the limit
of the surd is closes to 2. This suggest that an-an+1 is
very close to zero.
X=
X2=

X= 2 OR X= -1 (Rejected)
The reason of X= -1 being rejected is because the sum
of two positive numbers can’t be negative number.

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After had tried and explain two sets of surds, I will then consider
the general infinite surd in terms of k, to find an expression for the
exact value of this general infinite surd.

a1=

a2=

a3=

a10=

General Formula:

Let an+1= an= x

OR (Reject)

Which , when the result must be an integer.

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26th March, 2008
If the solution must be an integer then , where M
is any positive integer 1.

Product of any 2 positive consecutive numbers.

The general statement that represents all the values of K for which
the expression is an integer is

Now, I will use different value of M to test whether my statement is

correct or not.

Example 1:
If M=2

K= 2
Substitute K into the formula of the exact value of the general
infinite surd

X= 2, which is an integer.

Example 2:
If M= 3

K= 6
Substitute K into the formula of the exact value of the general
infinite surd

X= 3, which is an integer
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Example 3:
If M= 5

K= 20
Substitute K into the formula of the exact value of the general
infinite surd

X= 5, which is an integer

Example 4:
If M= 100

K= 9900
Substitute K into the formula of the exact value of the general
infinite surd

X=100, which is an integer

The four examples above has proved that if K is the product of any 2
positive consecutive numbers, then the exact value of the infinite
surd must be an integer.

But if K is not the product of 2 positive consecutive numbers, then

the exact value of the infinite surd will not be an integer. Here are
the examples:

Example 1:

If K is rational number, example like , then substitute K into the

formula of the exact value of the general infinite surd

X= 1.2071(4 decimal place), which is not an integer

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Example 2:
If K is a square root number, example like , then substitute K into
the formula of the exact value of the general infinite surd.

X=1.79(two decimal place), which is not an integer

Example 3:
In K is irrational number, example like , then substitute K into the
formula of the exact value of the general infinite surd.

X= 2.342(3 decimal place), which is not an integer.

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Conclusion:

In this portfolio, we are investigating the infinite surds

. We substitute K=1 and K=2 to find the general

formula and the equation of calculating the exact value. And we find

that the general equation of this is and

the exact value formula is . When K=0, the result of the

infinite surd is equal to zero as expected. For any K bigger then 0,

there is always a limit for the infinite surd. If , where M
is any positive integers, the infinite surds will be an integer equal to
M. Otherwise, the result will be an irrational number.

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