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6 1 2 1 1 −1 4 5 9. and would be written in modern notation as 6 1 / 4 , 1 1 / 5 , and 2 − 1 / 9 (i.e., 1 8 / 9 ). The horizontal fraction bar is first attested in the work of Al-Hassār (fl. 1200), [35] a Muslim mathematician from Fez, Morocco, who specialized in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence.
Most decimal fractions (or most fractions in general) cannot be represented exactly as a fraction with a denominator that is a power of two. For example, the simple decimal fraction 0.3 (3 ⁄ 10) might be represented as 5404319552844595 ⁄ 18014398509481984 (0.299999999999999988897769…). This inexactness causes many problems that are ...
A repeating decimal is an infinite decimal that, after some place, repeats indefinitely the same sequence of digits (e.g., 5.123144144144144... = 5.123 144). [4] An infinite decimal represents a rational number , the quotient of two integers, if and only if it is a repeating decimal or has a finite number of non-zero digits.
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.
Every decimal representation of a rational number can be converted to a fraction by converting it into a sum of the integer, non-repeating, and repeating parts and then converting that sum to a single fraction with a common denominator.
Conversely the period of the repeating decimal of a fraction c / d will be (at most) the smallest number n such that 10 n − 1 is divisible by d. For example, the fraction 2 / 7 has d = 7, and the smallest k that makes 10 k − 1 divisible by 7 is k = 6, because 999999 = 7 × 142857. The period of the fraction 2 / 7 is ...
By using a dot to divide the digits into two groups, one can also write fractions in the positional system. For example, the base 2 numeral 10.11 denotes 1×2 1 + 0×2 0 + 1×2 −1 + 1×2 −2 = 2.75. In general, numbers in the base b system are of the form:
In terms of partition, 20 / 5 means the size of each of 5 parts into which a set of size 20 is divided. For example, 20 apples divide into five groups of four apples, meaning that "twenty divided by five is equal to four". 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 ...