The iteration using Newton’s method for target is .

The iteration using Newton’s method for the golden ratio is .

Column 4 with heading " as -adic" and column 5 with heading "check: as -adic" show very strange looking numbers indeed. These seem to be infinite base numbers. They are in fact numerals, the -adic expansions of and , respectively. In rare cases, suggested by Kurt Hensel in 1897, columns 4 and 5 also converge, in a sense. The "Suggestions" in this Demonstration give the only cases of -adic convergence for .

To appreciate how these -adic numbers can represent rational numbers, observe the following. Columns 4 and 5 are like column 2 in that the digits eventually form an infinitely repeating pattern, but to the left (only 17 digits are displayed). Column 4 is like column 3, entitled " as fraction" (where ), in that in base . Similarly, column 5 behaves like , in that in base .