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The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, [1] [2] an ancient Egyptian mathematical work, includes a mathematical table for converting rational numbers of the form 2/n into Egyptian fractions (sums of distinct unit fractions), the form the Egyptians used to write fractional numbers. The text describes the representation of 50 rational numbers.
In mathematics, the Farey sequence of order n is the sequence of completely reduced fractions, either between 0 and 1, or without this restriction, [a] which when in lowest terms have denominators less than or equal to n, arranged in order of increasing size.
For example, the numerators of fractions with common denominators can simply be added, such that + = and that <, since each fraction has the common denominator 12. Without computing a common denominator, it is not obvious as to what 5 12 + 11 18 {\displaystyle {\frac {5}{12}}+{\frac {11}{18}}} equals, or whether 5 12 {\displaystyle {\frac {5 ...
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]
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.
[6] [7] [8] Oliver Heaviside introduced the practical use of fractional differential operators in electrical transmission line analysis circa 1890. [9] The theory and applications of fractional calculus expanded greatly over the 19th and 20th centuries, and numerous contributors have given different definitions for fractional derivatives and ...
A rational fraction is an algebraic fraction whose numerator and denominator are both polynomials. Thus 3 x x 2 + 2 x − 3 {\displaystyle {\frac {3x}{x^{2}+2x-3}}} is a rational fraction, but not x + 2 x 2 − 3 , {\displaystyle {\frac {\sqrt {x+2}}{x^{2}-3}},} because the numerator contains a square root function.
The continued fractions on the right hand side will converge uniformly on any closed and bounded set that contains no poles of this function. [ 7 ] In the case 2 F 1 {\displaystyle {}_{2}F_{1}} , the radius of convergence of the series is 1 and the fraction on the left hand side is a meromorphic function within this circle.