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Irreducible fraction. An irreducible fraction (or fraction in lowest terms, simplest form or reduced fraction) is a fraction in which the numerator and denominator are integers that have no other common divisors than 1 (and −1, when negative numbers are considered). [1] In other words, a fraction a b is irreducible if and only if a and ...
A simple fraction (also known as a common fraction or vulgar fraction, where vulgar is Latin for "common") is a rational number written as a / b or , where a and b are both integers. [9] As with other fractions, the denominator (b) cannot be zero. Examples include 1 2 , − 8 5 , −8 5 , and 8 −5 .
It can be used to reduce fractions to their simplest form, and is a part of many other number-theoretic and cryptographic calculations. The Euclidean algorithm is based on the principle that the greatest common divisor of two numbers does not change if the larger number is replaced by its difference with the smaller number.
It can also be shown that truncating a continued fraction yields a rational fraction that is the best approximation to the root of any fraction with denominator less than or equal to the denominator of that fraction — e.g., no fraction with a denominator less than or equal to 70 is as good an approximation to √ 2 as 99/70.
He also gave two other approximations of π: π ≈ 22 ⁄ 7 and π ≈ 355 ⁄ 113, which are not as accurate as his decimal result. The latter fraction is the best possible rational approximation of π using fewer than five decimal digits in the numerator and denominator. Zu Chongzhi's results surpass the accuracy reached in Hellenistic ...
A finite regular continued fraction, where is a non-negative integer, is an integer, and is a positive integer, for . A continued fraction is a mathematical expression that can be writen as a fraction with a denominator that is a sum that contains another simple or continued fraction. Depending on whether this iteration terminates with a simple ...
V.P.A.M. is an infix system for entering mathematical expressions, used by Casio in most of its current scientific calculators. In the infix notation the precedence of mathematical operators is taken into account. According to Casio, in V.P.A.M. calculations can be input exactly as they are normally written.
The simplest fraction 3 / y with a three-term expansion is 3 / 7 . A fraction 4 / y requires four terms in its greedy expansion if and only if y ≡ 1 or 17 (mod 24), for then the numerator −y mod x of the remaining fraction is 3 and the denominator is 1 (mod 6). The simplest fraction 4 / y with a four-term ...