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Remarks on Pell’s equation and square root algorithms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Adam McBride
Adam McBride*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XH
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Extract

What a pleasure it was to read the note by Rev. L.M. Brown. It would be hard to resist exploring an article with a title like ‘An algorithm for square roots: an episode in the campaign against dotage’ under any circumstances. However, there are two reasons which made the exercise especially interesting for me.

The first reason is personal. My career as a university lecturer started in Session 1970-71 when I was appointed as a humble Demonstrator in the Technical Mathematics department at the University of Edinburgh, a group of which Dr Brown was for many years in charge. It is a delight to see him in great form at the age of 93 showing what can be done with paper, pencil and a mind still as sharp as a tack.

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 83 , Issue 496 , March 1999 , pp. 47 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1999

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References

1. Brown, L.M., An algorithm for square roots: an episode in the campaign against dotage, Math. Gaz. 81 (November 1997), pp. 428–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Allenby, R.B.J.T. and Redfern, E.J., Introduction to number theory with computing, Edward Arnold (1989).Google Scholar
3. Rosen, K.H., Elementary number theory and its applications, Addison-Wesley (1985).Google Scholar