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Here, the composite number 90 is made up of one atom of the prime number 2, two atoms of the prime number 3, and one atom of the prime number 5. This fact can be used to find the lcm of a set of numbers. Example: lcm(8,9,21) Factor each number and express it as a product of prime number powers.
The lowest common denominator of a set of fractions is the lowest number that is a multiple of all the denominators: their lowest common multiple. The product of the denominators is always a common denominator, as in: + = + =
So, Euclid's method for computing the greatest common divisor of two positive integers consists of replacing the larger number with the difference of the numbers, and repeating this until the two numbers are equal: that is their greatest common divisor. For example, to compute gcd(48,18), one proceeds as follows:
The number of steps to calculate the GCD of two natural numbers, a and b, may be denoted by T(a, b). [96] If g is the GCD of a and b, then a = mg and b = ng for two coprime numbers m and n. Then T(a, b) = T(m, n) as may be seen by dividing all the steps in the Euclidean algorithm by g. [97]
To add fractions containing unlike quantities (e.g. quarters and thirds), it is necessary to convert all amounts to like quantities. It is easy to work out the chosen type of fraction to convert to; simply multiply together the two denominators (bottom number) of each fraction. In case of an integer number apply the invisible denominator 1.
Rational numbers are defined as pairs of integers where the first number represents the numerator and the second number represents the denominator. For example, the pair (3, 7) represents the rational number . [153] One way to construct the real numbers relies on the concept of Dedekind cuts.
Technically, this is a binary operation on valid fractions (nonzero denominator), considered as ordered pairs of appropriate integers, a priori disregarding the perspective on rational numbers as equivalence classes of fractions. For example, the mediant of the fractions 1/1 and 1/2 is 2/3.
A rational number has an indefinitely repeating sequence of finite length l, if the reduced fraction's denominator contains a prime factor that is not a factor of the base. If q is the maximal factor of the reduced denominator which is coprime to the base, l is the smallest exponent such that q divides b ℓ − 1.