Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Connecting Algebra And Geometry To Find Square And Higher Order Roots, Iwan R. Elstak, Sudhir Goel

Georgia Journal of Science

Unfortunately, the repeat rate for all core curriculum courses including calculus-I and II, and also math education courses is too high. K-12 students are barely able to do estimation, an important part of Mathematics, whether it is adding fractions or finding roots, or for that matter, simple percent problems. In this paper we present geometric ways to reason about approximation of square roots and cube roots that are not accessible with simple routine techniques. We combine graphical methods, the use of a geometry software (sketch pad) and convergence of sequences to find higher order roots of positive real numbers and …