SURDS

Well around 820 AD al-Khwarizmi (the Persian guy who we get the name "Algorithm" from)
called irrational numbers "'inaudible" ... this was later translated to the Latin surdus ("deaf" or
"mute")

In fact "Surd" used to be another name for "Irrational", but it is now used for a root that is
irrational.

NOTE: Irrational numbers

An Irrational Number is a real number that cannot be written or expressed as a Ratio of two
integers. Example:

Example: π (Pi) is a famous irrational number.

π = 3.1415926535897932384626433832795 (and more...)

You cannot write down a simple fraction that equals Pi.

The popular approximation of 22/7 = 3.1428571428571... is close but not accurate.

Another clue is that the decimal goes on forever without repeating.

Note on Multiplying Irrational Numbers

Have a look at this:

 π × π = π2 is irrational

 But √2 × √2 = 2 is rational

So be careful ... multiplying irrational numbers might result in a rational number!

Some Famous Irrational Numbers

Pi is a famous irrational number. People have calculated Pi to over a

quadrillion decimal places and still there is no pattern. The first few digits
look like this:

3.1415926535897932384626433832795 (and more ...)

 The number e (Euler's Number) is another famous irrational number.
People have also calculated e to lots of decimal places without any pattern
showing. The first few digits look like this:

2.7182818284590452353602874713527 (and more ...)

The Golden Ratio is an irrational number. The first few digits look like this:

1.61803398874989484820... (and more ...)

Many square roots, cube roots, etc are also irrational numbers. Examples:

√3 1.7320508075688772935274463415059 (etc)

√99 9.9498743710661995473447982100121 (etc)

But √4 = 2 (rational), and √9 = 3 (rational) ...... so not all roots are irrational.

History of Irrational Numbers

Apparently Hippasus (one of Pythagoras' students) discovered irrational numbers when trying to
represent the square root of 2 as a fraction (using geometry, it is thought). Instead he proved you
couldn't write the square root of 2 as a fraction and so it was irrational.

However Pythagoras could not accept the existence of irrational numbers, because he believed
that all numbers had perfect values. But he could not disprove Hippasus' "irrational numbers"
and so Hippasus was thrown overboard and drowned!

Quadratic surds (often called surds for short) are those square roots of rational numbers which
cannot be expressed as rational numbers.

If you can't simplify a number to remove a square root (or cube root etc) then it is a surd.

Example: √2 (square root of 2) can't be simplified further so it is a surd

Example: √4 (square root of 4) can be simplified (to 2), so it is not a surd!

Have a look at some more examples:

Number Simplifed As a Decimal Surd or not?

√2 √2 1.4142135...(etc) Surd
√3 √3 1.7320508...(etc) Surd
√4 2 2 Not a surd
√(1/4) 1/2 0.5 Not a surd
3
√(11) 3
√(11) 2.2239800...(etc) Surd
3
√(27) 3 3 Not a surd
5
√(3) 5
√(3) 1.2457309...(etc) Surd

As you can see, the surds have a decimal which goes on forever without repeating, and are
actually Irrational Numbers.

Conclusion

 If it is a root and irrational, it is a surd.

 But not all roots are surds.

In algebraic simplification and calculation, surds should be used (i.e. expressions like should
not be replaced by a decimal approximation) because the surd is an exact value
and exact calculation can be done. Once a simple expression involving surds is achieved a
numerical answer to a required degree of accuracy may be obtained from a calculator (or
computer).

A simple example

(to 3 decimal places)

But

1.4142 = 1.999396 = 1.414 to 3 decimal places

i.e. the exact value has been lost.

Approximating surds makes algebra harder and introduces an error to any subsequent
calculations.