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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.
The unit fractions are the rational numbers that can be written in the form , where can be any positive natural number. They are thus the multiplicative inverses of the positive integers. When something is divided into n {\displaystyle n} equal parts, each part is a 1 / n {\displaystyle 1/n} fraction of the whole.
When a rational number is expanded into a sum of unit fractions, the expansion is called an Egyptian fraction.This way of writing fractions dates to the mathematics of ancient Egypt, in which fractions were written this way instead of in the more modern vulgar fraction form with a numerator and denominator .
An interesting feature of ancient Egyptian mathematics is the use of unit fractions. [7] The Egyptians used some special notation for fractions such as 1 / 2 , 1 / 3 and 2 / 3 and in some texts for 3 / 4 , but other fractions were all written as unit fractions of the form 1 / n or sums of such unit ...
A later text, the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, introduced improved ways of writing Egyptian fractions. The Rhind papyrus was written by Ahmes and dates from the Second Intermediate Period; it includes a table of Egyptian fraction expansions for rational numbers , as well as 84 word problems. Solutions to each problem were written out in scribal ...
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 ...