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When the numerator and the denominator are both positive, the fraction is called proper if the numerator is less than the denominator, and improper otherwise. [11] The concept of an "improper fraction" is a late development, with the terminology deriving from the fact that "fraction" means "a piece", so a proper fraction must be less than 1. [ 10 ]
In mathematics, the lowest common denominator or least common denominator (abbreviated LCD) is the lowest common multiple of the denominators of a set of fractions ...
A way to express division all on one line is to write the dividend (or numerator), then a slash, then the divisor (or denominator), as follows: / This is the usual way of specifying division in most computer programming languages, since it can easily be typed as a simple sequence of ASCII characters.
The least common multiple of the denominators of two fractions is the "lowest common denominator" (lcd), and can be used for adding, subtracting or comparing the fractions. The least common multiple of more than two integers a , b , c , . . . , usually denoted by lcm( a , b , c , . . .) , is defined as the smallest positive integer that is ...
A real number can be expressed by a finite number of decimal digits only if it is rational and its fractional part has a denominator whose prime factors are 2 or 5 or both, because these are the prime factors of 10, the base of the decimal system. Thus, for example, one half is 0.5, one fifth is 0.2, one-tenth is 0.1, and one fiftieth is 0.02.
In mathematics, "rational" is often used as a noun abbreviating "rational number". The adjective rational sometimes means that the coefficients are rational numbers. For example, a rational point is a point with rational coordinates (i.e., a point whose coordinates are rational numbers); a rational matrix is a matrix of rational numbers; a rational polynomial may be a polynomial with rational ...
An equivalent definition is sometimes useful: if a and b are integers, then the fraction a / b is irreducible if and only if there is no other equal fraction c / d such that | c | < | a | or | d | < | b |, where | a | means the absolute value of a. [4] (Two fractions a / b and c / d are equal or equivalent if and ...
A similar procedure is used for subtraction. If the two numbers do not have the same denominator then they must be transformed to find a common denominator. This can be achieved by scaling the first number with the denominator of the second number while scaling the second number with the denominator of the first number.