Root of 37 to three decimals by Newton's method
Question
Without a calculator, estimate correct to three decimal places.
Short answer
(more precisely ). Apply Newton's method to , i.e. , from : , and the next step changes it only in the fifth decimal. The quick estimate gives the same first step.
Adapted from Zhou, A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews, sec. 3.4 Important Calculus Methods, 'Newton's method A', p.43; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.
See the hint and the full worked solution in the question bank (free account).
Open the worked solution