Comments on: Random sn and tech news https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/03/18/random-sn-and-tech-news/ Sat, 19 Mar 2011 14:41:08 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/03/18/random-sn-and-tech-news/#comment-500791 Sat, 19 Mar 2011 14:41:08 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2011/03/18/random-sn-and-tech-news/#comment-500791 I just do that in my head.

]]> By: Riman Butterbur https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/03/18/random-sn-and-tech-news/#comment-500790 Sat, 19 Mar 2011 10:34:08 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2011/03/18/random-sn-and-tech-news/#comment-500790 It doesn’t matter how well you can estimate a square root if you have a pocket calculator with a memory function. Any estimate larger than 1 will do for a first approximation.

Put your estimate in the memory M+, enter the number, divide by Recall memory RM, subtract RM, divide by 2, and add to M+.

Repeat until the number you’re adding to memory stops changing from one step to the next, or alternates between two slightly different numbers. The number in the memory is the square root, as close as your calculator can come to it.

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