Find the infinite simple continued fractions for $\sqrt{2};\sqrt{5};\sqrt{6};\sqrt{7};\sqrt{8}$.
- I have solved similar equations for continued fractions but only using a fraction, if someone could please demonstrate how to do this to ANY of these values I will be good from there just need an example to work off of. I realize I can just get these values off of Wolfram Alpha but I need to know how to actually work through them. Thank you in advance!
Just an example: $\sqrt{7}$. Since $4<7<9$, $\left\lfloor \sqrt{7}\right\rfloor = 2$, so: $$ \sqrt{7} = 2+(\sqrt{7}-2) = \color{blue}{2}+\frac{1}{\frac{\sqrt{7}+2}{3}}\tag{1}.$$ Since $2+\sqrt{7}\in (4,5)$, $\left\lfloor\frac{\sqrt{7}+2}{3}\right\rfloor =1$, so: $$ \frac{\sqrt{7}+2}{3} = 1+\frac{\sqrt{7}-1}{3} = 1+\frac{1}{\frac{\sqrt{7}+1}{2}}$$ and by plugging this identity back into $(1)$ we get: $$\sqrt{7}=\color{blue}{2}+\frac{1}{\color{blue}{1}+\frac{1}{\frac{\sqrt{7}+1}{2}}}.\tag{2}$$ Now $\frac{1+\sqrt{7}}{2}\in(1,2)$, hence: $$ \frac{\sqrt{7}+1}{2}=1+\frac{\sqrt{7}-1}{2} = 1+\frac{1}{\frac{\sqrt{7}+1}{3}}$$ and by plugging it back into $(2)$ we get: $$\sqrt{7}=\color{blue}{2}+\frac{1}{\color{blue}{1}+\frac{1}{\color{blue}{1}+\frac{1}{\frac{\sqrt{7}+1}{3}}}}.\tag{3}$$ Continuing that way, we have: $$\frac{\sqrt{7}+1}{3} = 1+\frac{\sqrt{7}-2}{3} = 1+\frac{1}{\sqrt{7}+2}$$ hence:
Now you just have to check that the same algorithm leads to: $$ \sqrt{2} = [1;\overline{2}],\quad \sqrt{5}=[2;\overline{4}],\quad \sqrt{6}=[2;\overline{2,4}],\quad \sqrt{8}=[2;\overline{1,4}]$$ (yes, I took the most complex example on purpose).