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I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me with this problem:

Among the convergents of $\sqrt{15}$, find a rational number that approximates $\sqrt{15}$ with accuracy to four decimal places.

I know how to find the continued fraction and the convergents for $\sqrt{15}$. But I am just not sure how to determine how far I need to go in order to approximate that number with the requested accuracy.

Thanks!

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    Are you familiar with a certain bound on the absolute value of the difference between a number $\alpha$ and one of its convergents?2011-05-22
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    $|\alpha - p_{n}/q_{n}| \le |\alpha -a/b|<1/2b^2$ ?2011-05-22
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    Of course, the lowbrow way to do this is to calculate $\sqrt{15}$ to 4 decimals, then calculate convergents to 4 decimals until you find one that works.2011-05-23
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    Yes, that's what I did at first, but something tells that the author had something else in mind.2011-05-23
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    @Daniel: yes, that one. Can you see how that answers your question?2011-05-23
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    @Qiaochu: yes, I think I know how to use that one. I was hoping to get a values for n, but I guess that not possible. Thanks for your help.2011-05-24

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