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This decimal format can also represent any binary fraction a/2 m, such as 1/8 (0.125) or 17/32 (0.53125). More generally, a rational number a / b , with a and b relatively prime and b positive, can be exactly represented in binary fixed point only if b is a power of 2; and in decimal fixed point only if b has no prime factors other than 2 and/or 5.
To change a common fraction to a decimal, do a long division of the decimal representations of the numerator by the denominator (this is idiomatically also phrased as "divide the denominator into the numerator"), and round the answer to the desired accuracy. For example, to change 1 / 4 to a decimal, divide 1.00 by 4 (" 4 into 1.00 ...
This is denoted as 20 / 5 = 4, or 20 / 5 = 4. [2] In the example, 20 is the dividend, 5 is the divisor, and 4 is the quotient. Unlike the other basic operations, when dividing natural numbers there is sometimes a remainder that will not go evenly into the dividend; for example, 10 / 3 leaves a remainder of 1, as 10 is not a multiple of 3.
Thus only 23 fraction bits of the significand appear in the memory format, but the total precision is 24 bits (equivalent to log 10 (2 24) ≈ 7.225 decimal digits) for normal values; subnormals have gracefully degrading precision down to 1 bit for the smallest non-zero value.
Fractions such as 1 ⁄ 3 are displayed as decimal approximations, for example rounded to 0.33333333. Also, some fractions (such as 1 ⁄ 7, which is 0.14285714285714; to 14 significant figures) can be difficult to recognize in decimal form; as a result, many scientific calculators are able to work in vulgar fractions or mixed numbers.
Since 2 10 = 1024, the complete range of the positive normal floating-point numbers in this format is from 2 −1022 ≈ 2 × 10 −308 to approximately 2 1024 ≈ 2 × 10 308. The number of normal floating-point numbers in a system (B, P, L, U) where B is the base of the system, P is the precision of the significand (in base B),
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In mathematics, "rational" is often used as a noun abbreviating "rational number". The adjective rational sometimes means that the coefficients are rational numbers. For example, a rational point is a point with rational coordinates (i.e., a point whose coordinates are rational numbers); a rational matrix is a matrix of rational numbers; a rational polynomial may be a polynomial with rational ...