diff --git a/library/data/nat/default.lean b/library/data/nat/default.lean
index 0ef7dd722..dcb1f4ec1 100644
--- a/library/data/nat/default.lean
+++ b/library/data/nat/default.lean
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ Copyright (c) 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Released under Apache 2.0 license as described in the file LICENSE.
 Author: Jeremy Avigad
 -/
-import .basic .order .sub .div .bquant
+import .basic .order .sub .div .bquant .sqrt
diff --git a/library/data/nat/sqrt.lean b/library/data/nat/sqrt.lean
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7b3268ae6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/data/nat/sqrt.lean
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/-
+Copyright (c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
+Released under Apache 2.0 license as described in the file LICENSE.
+
+Module: data.nat.sqrt
+Authors: Leonardo de Moura
+
+Very simple (sqrt n) function that returns s s.t.
+    s*s ≤ n ≤ s*s + s + s
+-/
+import data.nat.order
+
+namespace nat
+open decidable
+
+-- This is the simplest possible function that just performs a linear search
+definition sqrt_aux : nat → nat → nat
+| 0        n := 0
+| (succ s) n := if (succ s)*(succ s) ≤ n then succ s else sqrt_aux s n
+
+theorem sqrt_aux_suc_of_pos {s n} : (succ s)*(succ s) ≤ n → sqrt_aux (succ s) n = (succ s) :=
+assume h, if_pos h
+
+theorem sqrt_aux_suc_of_neg {s n} : ¬ (succ s)*(succ s) ≤ n → sqrt_aux (succ s) n = sqrt_aux s n :=
+assume h, if_neg h
+
+definition sqrt (n : nat) : nat :=
+sqrt_aux n n
+
+theorem sqrt_aux_lower : ∀ {s n : nat}, s ≤ n → sqrt_aux s n * sqrt_aux s n ≤ n
+| 0        n h := h
+| (succ s) n h := by_cases
+  (λ h₁ : (succ s)*(succ s) ≤ n,   by rewrite [sqrt_aux_suc_of_pos h₁]; exact h₁)
+  (λ h₂ : ¬ (succ s)*(succ s) ≤ n,
+     assert aux : s ≤ n, from lt.step (lt_of_succ_le h),
+     by rewrite [sqrt_aux_suc_of_neg h₂]; exact (sqrt_aux_lower aux))
+
+theorem sqrt_lower (n : nat) : sqrt n * sqrt n ≤ n :=
+sqrt_aux_lower (le.refl n)
+
+theorem succ_squared (n : nat) : succ n * succ n = n*n + n + n + 1 :=
+calc succ n * succ n = (n+1)*(n+1)     : by rewrite [add_one]
+                ...  = n*n + n + n + 1 : by rewrite [mul.right_distrib, mul.left_distrib, one_mul, mul_one]
+
+theorem sqrt_aux_upper : ∀ {s n : nat}, n ≤ s*s + s + s → n ≤ sqrt_aux s n * sqrt_aux s n + sqrt_aux s n + sqrt_aux s n
+| 0         n   h := h
+| (succ s)  n   h := by_cases
+  (λ h₁ : (succ s)*(succ s) ≤ n,
+    by rewrite [sqrt_aux_suc_of_pos h₁]; exact h)
+  (λ h₂ : ¬ (succ s)*(succ s) ≤ n,
+    assert h₃ : n < (succ s) * (succ s), from lt_of_not_le h₂,
+    assert h₄ : n ≤ s * s + s + s, by rewrite [succ_squared at h₃]; exact h₃,
+    by rewrite [sqrt_aux_suc_of_neg h₂]; exact (sqrt_aux_upper h₄))
+
+theorem sqrt_upper (n : nat) : n ≤ sqrt n * sqrt n + sqrt n + sqrt n :=
+have aux : n ≤ n*n + n + n, from le_add_of_le_right (le_add_of_le_left (le.refl n)),
+sqrt_aux_upper aux
+end nat