Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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, "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 ...
The numerator and denominator are called the terms of the algebraic fraction. 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 ...
Negative denominators are allowed, but are commonly avoided, as every rational number is equal to a fraction with positive denominator. Fractions are written as two integers, the numerator and the denominator, with a dividing bar between them. The fraction m / n represents m parts of a whole divided into n equal parts.
Most arithmetic operations on rational numbers can be calculated by performing a series of integer arithmetic operations on the numerators and the denominators of the involved numbers. If two rational numbers have the same denominator then they can be added by adding their numerators and keeping the common denominator.
The irreducible fraction for a given element is unique up to multiplication of denominator and numerator by the same invertible element. In the case of the rational numbers this means that any number has two irreducible fractions, related by a change of sign of both numerator and denominator; this ambiguity can be removed by requiring the ...
a fraction with A as numerator and B as denominator that represents the quotient (i.e., A divided by B, or). This can be expressed as a simple or a decimal fraction, or as a percentage, etc. [7] When a ratio is written in the form A:B, the two-dot character is sometimes the colon punctuation mark. [8]
More generally, a decimal with n digits after the separator (a point or comma) represents the fraction with denominator 10 n, whose numerator is the integer obtained by removing the separator. It follows that a number is a decimal fraction if and only if it has a finite decimal representation.