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When the numerator and the denominator are both positive, the fraction is called proper if the numerator is less than the denominator, and improper otherwise. [11] The concept of an improper fraction is a late development, with the terminology deriving from the fact that fraction means piece , so a proper fraction must be less than 1. [ 10 ]
The numerator and denominator are called the terms of the algebraic fraction. A complex fraction is a fraction whose numerator or denominator, or both, contains a fraction. A simple fraction contains no fraction either in its numerator or its denominator. A fraction is in lowest terms if the only factor common to the numerator and the ...
A way to express division all on one line is to write the dividend (or numerator), then a slash, then the divisor (or denominator), as follows: / This is the usual way of specifying division in most computer programming languages, since it can easily be typed as a simple sequence of ASCII characters.
Negative denominators are allowed, but are commonly avoided, as every rational number is equal to a fraction with positive denominator. Fractions are written as two integers, the numerator and the denominator, with a dividing bar between them. The fraction m / n represents m parts of a whole divided into n equal parts.
In algebra, the partial fraction decomposition or partial fraction expansion of a rational fraction (that is, a fraction such that the numerator and the denominator are both polynomials) is an operation that consists of expressing the fraction as a sum of a polynomial (possibly zero) and one or several fractions with a simpler denominator.
The irreducible fraction for a given element is unique up to multiplication of denominator and numerator by the same invertible element. In the case of the rational numbers this means that any number has two irreducible fractions, related by a change of sign of both numerator and denominator; this ambiguity can be removed by requiring the ...
A continued fraction is an expression of the form = + + + + + where the a n (n > 0) are the partial numerators, the b n are the partial denominators, and the leading term b 0 is called the integer part of the continued fraction.
That is to say, the numerator and denominator of the mediant are the sums of the numerators and denominators of the given fractions, respectively. It is sometimes called the freshman sum , as it is a common mistake in the early stages of learning about addition of fractions .