 Arithmetic-geometric mean iteration

Starting from $0<a_1\le b_1$, replace the lower endpoint by the geometric mean and the upper endpoint by the arithmetic mean. The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality gives $a_n\le a_{n+1}\le b_{n+1}\le b_n$. The bounded monotone sequence theorem gives limits, and the arithmetic recurrence forces them to coincide. The limiting value is the arithmetic-geometric mean of the initial pair.