Irrationality of sqrt(2)

Irrationality of 2

There's no qQ such that q2=2.

Proof
We'll do proof by contradiction. Assume for contradiction qQ where q2=2. Then a,bZ where q=ab where b0. We can assume further for Q that we can reduce ab to reduced terms, so then a,b have no common factors. Plugging it in:

q2=2(ab)2=2a2=2b2

Clearly 2|a so then we can write a=2k where kZ. Plugging it in:

a2=2b2(2k)2=2b24k2=2b22k2=b2

So clearly 2|b. But a,b cannot share the factor of 2! Thus this is a contradiction, so then qQ where q2=2. ⇒⇐

References

  1. [[Abbott Real Analysis.pdf#page=15]]