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For example, in the fraction 3 / 4 , the numerator 3 indicates that the fraction represents 3 equal parts, and the denominator 4 indicates that 4 parts make up a whole. The picture to the right illustrates 3 / 4 of a cake. Fractions can be used to represent ratios and division. [1]
The term antonym (and the related antonymy) is commonly taken to be synonymous with opposite, but antonym also has other more restricted meanings. Graded (or gradable) antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite and which lie on a continuous spectrum (hot, cold).
This system results in "two thirds" for 2 ⁄ 3 and "fifteen thirty-seconds" for 15 ⁄ 32. This system is normally used for denominators less than 100 and for many powers of 10 . Examples include "six ten-thousandths" for 6 ⁄ 10,000 and "three hundredths" for 0.03.
Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include:
In the second step, they were divided by 3. The final result, 4 / 3 , is an irreducible fraction because 4 and 3 have no common factors other than 1. The original fraction could have also been reduced in a single step by using the greatest common divisor of 90 and 120, which is 30. As 120 ÷ 30 = 4, and 90 ÷ 30 = 3, one gets
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 .
Algebra is the branch of mathematics that studies certain abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic operations other than the standard arithmetic operations, such as addition and multiplication.
Continued fractions can also be applied to problems in number theory, and are especially useful in the study of Diophantine equations. In the late eighteenth century Lagrange used continued fractions to construct the general solution of Pell's equation, thus answering a question that had fascinated mathematicians for more than a thousand years. [9]