Metric vs. other measurement systems - chart

[FEM2008]

I was taught that awkward system in grade school. I soon purged it from my memory bank. There's a much simpler way to find roots using Newton's method.

Consider this iterative equation...

x2 = (x1 + N / x1) / 2

where:

N = number whose root is to be found
x1 = initial estimate of root
x2 = improved estimate of root

We make a guess of the root, x1, plug it into this equation and get an improved estimate, x2. If this estimate isn't good enough for out purposes, we set x1 = x2 and repeat the process to get an even better estimate. This iterative procedure is repeated until x2 squared is close enough to N to satisfy our requirements.

@mklotz . BTW. I brought this up recently and my son informed me this is Babylonian method, not Newtonian. I looked ut up. This method is also known as Heron's method. His detailed deccription goes back to 60 AD.