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For example, a fraction is put in lowest terms by cancelling out the common factors of the numerator and the denominator. [2] As another example, if a×b=a×c, then the multiplicative term a can be canceled out if a≠0, resulting in the equivalent expression b=c; this is equivalent to dividing through by a.
Long division is the standard algorithm used for pen-and-paper division of multi-digit numbers expressed in decimal notation. It shifts gradually from the left to the right end of the dividend, subtracting the largest possible multiple of the divisor (at the digit level) at each stage; the multiples then become the digits of the quotient, and the final difference is then the remainder.
More systematically and more efficiently, two integers can be divided with pencil and paper with the method of short division, if the divisor is small, or long division, if the divisor is larger. If the dividend has a fractional part (expressed as a decimal fraction ), one can continue the procedure past the ones place as far as desired.
In mathematics, division by zero, division where the divisor (denominator) is zero, is a unique and problematic special case. Using fraction notation, the general example can be written as a 0 {\displaystyle {\tfrac {a}{0}}} , where a {\displaystyle a} is the dividend (numerator).
This works because the cancellation in the numerator ( (+)) = ^ + (^) and the cancellation in the denominator ^ = (+) counteract each other; the function = (+) / is well-enough conditioned near zero that (^) gives a good approximation to (), and thus (^) gives a good approximation to = (+).
Most arithmetic operations on rational numbers can be calculated by performing a series of integer arithmetic operations on the numerators and the denominators of the involved numbers. If two rational numbers have the same denominator then they can be added by adding their numerators and keeping the common denominator.
However some do not, in particular those that include multiple diacritics (e.g. with Latin letters used in Vietnamese) or that cannot be precomposed into a single character (such as the uppercase Latin letter W with ring), or that use other diacritics (like the ogonek or the double grave accent, used in Central European languages like Polish ...
In mathematics, the mediant of two fractions, generally made up of four positive integers. and is defined as + +.. That is to say, the numerator and denominator of the mediant are the sums of the numerators and denominators of the given fractions, respectively.