system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELIF how the square root function of a calculator works.
gpt
There are methods (called algorithms) to do it. The most famous algorithm was known even to Babylonians (and it's very similar to the method Newton invented).

Imagine you want to find out the square root of 3. 

1. Pick a random number (near to the value you expect). Call it x0. (I choose x0 = 1)

2. Then, find the average between x0 and 3/x0, that's 2 ( = (1 + 3/1)/2). Call your result x1. (x1 = 2)

3. Do the average between x1 and 3/x1. Call the result x2. Continue until you're satisfied with the result. (x2 = 1.75, x3 = (x2+3/x2)/2 = 1.723, x4 = (x3 + 3/x3)/2, etc). 

The Square root of 3 is something like 1.7320.