OFFSET
1,1
COMMENTS
"The real solution to the equation x^3 - 2x - 5 = 0. This equation was solved by [the English mathematician John] Wallis [1616-1703] to illustrate Newton's method for the numerical solution of equations.
"It has since served as a test for many subsequent methods of approximation and its real root is now known to 4000 digits." [Gruenberger]
REFERENCES
N. J. A. Sloane and Simon Plouffe, The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, 1995 (includes this sequence).
D. E. Smith, A Source Book in Mathematics, McGraw-Hill, 1929, pp. 247-248.
David Wells, "The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers," Revised Edition, Penguin Books, London, England, 1997, page 27.
LINKS
Harry J. Smith, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..20000
Fred Gruenberger, How to handle numbers with thousands of digits, and why one might want to, Computer Recreations, Scientific American, 250 (No. 4, 1984), 19-26.
W. G. Horner, A new method of solving numerical equations of all orders, by continuous approximation, Phil. Trans. Royal Soc., 1819, pp. 308-335.
D. Olivastro, Ancient Puzzles, Bantam Books, NY (1993), cover page and pp. 58-59. (Annotated scanned copy)
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Wallis's Constant
FORMULA
Equals (5/2 - sqrt(643/108))^(1/3) + (5/2 + sqrt(643/108))^(1/3). - Michal Paulovic, Mar 19 2023
EXAMPLE
2.094551481542326591482386540579302963857306105628239180304128529...
MATHEMATICA
RealDigits[ N[ 1/3* (135/2 - (3*Sqrt[1929])/2)^(1/3) + (1/2*(45 + Sqrt[1929]) )^(1/3) / 3^(2/3), 100]][[1]]
PROG
(PARI) default(realprecision, 20080); x=NULL; p=x^3 - 2*x - 5; rs=polroots(p); r=real(rs[1]); for (n=1, 20000, d=floor(r); r=(r-d)*10; write("b007493.txt", n, " ", d)); \\ Harry J. Smith, May 03 2009
(PARI) polrootsreal(x^3-2*x-5)[1] \\ Charles R Greathouse IV, Apr 14 2014
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
cons,nonn
AUTHOR
EXTENSIONS
Final digits of sequence corrected using the b-file. - N. J. A. Sloane, Aug 30 2009
STATUS
approved