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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]
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.
The process of transforming an irrational fraction to a rational fraction is known as rationalization. Every irrational fraction in which the radicals are monomials may be rationalized by finding the least common multiple of the indices of the roots, and substituting the variable for another variable with the least common multiple as exponent.
A root of degree 2 is called a square root and a root of degree 3, a cube root. Roots of higher degree are referred by using ordinal numbers, as in fourth root, twentieth root, etc. The computation of an n th root is a root extraction. For example, 3 is a square root of 9, since 3 2 = 9, and −3 is also a square root of 9, since (−3) 2 = 9.
A complex fraction is a fraction whose numerator or denominator, or both, contains a fraction. A simple fraction contains no fraction either in its numerator or its denominator. A fraction is in lowest terms if the only factor common to the numerator and the denominator is 1. An expression which is not in fractional form is an integral ...
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:
The simplified equation is not entirely equivalent to the original. For when we substitute y = 0 and z = 0 in the last equation, both sides simplify to 0, so we get 0 = 0 , a mathematical truth. But the same substitution applied to the original equation results in x /6 + 0/0 = 1 , which is mathematically meaningless .
In the case of two nested square roots, the following theorem completely solves the problem of denesting. [2]If a and c are rational numbers and c is not the square of a rational number, there are two rational numbers x and y such that + = if and only if is the square of a rational number d.