Editing Nth root (section)

==Geometric constructibility==

The [[ancient Greek mathematicians]] knew how to [[compass-and-straightedge construction|use compass and straightedge]] to construct a length equal to the square root of a given length, when an auxiliary line of unit length is given. In 1837 [[Pierre Wantzel]] proved that an ''n''th root of a given length cannot be constructed if ''n'' is not a power of 2.<ref>{{Citation|first = [[Monsieur|M.]] L.|last = Wantzel|title = Recherches sur les moyens de reconnaître si un Problème de Géométrie peut se résoudre avec la règle et le compas |journal = Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées|year = 1837|volume = 1|issue = 2|pages = 366–372|url = http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=NUMM-16381&Deb=374&Fin=380&E=PDF}}</ref>