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Fractions

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Fractions are rational numbers, that is the ratio (or division) of an integer (the numerator) by a positive integer (the denominator), generally represented vertically as

or horizontally as . ( is the [trivial] fraction corresponding to the integer .)

If the numerator and the denominator are coprime, then the fraction is said to be in reduced form, i.e. written in lowest terms. For example, .

If , the fraction is sometimes referred to as an improper fraction, in which case it might be rewritten as (sometimes referred to as a mixed fraction)

where is the sign function and is the absolute value.

For example, , though generally the addition sign becomes a tacit operator, e.g. .

One important sequence of fractions is the sequence of even-index Bernoulli numbers

In the OEIS, sequences of fractions[1] are generally rendered as two sequences of integers, one for the numerator, the other for the denominator. Both sequences then have Keyword frac and cross-references to each other. In the Bernoulli example, A000367 gives the numerators and A002445 gives the denominators.

However, for sequences of unit fractions, we could say that such and such sequence has the denominators and A000012 has the numerators for all of them.

Reduced form

Given a fraction , one obtains the reduced form (fraction in lowest terms) by respectively dividing the numerator and the denominator by the gcd of and

Proper, improper and mixed fractions

Fractions are sometimes referred to as either

  • Proper fractions: fractions s.t. ;
  • Improper fractions: fractions s.t. ;
  • Mixed fractions: fractions s.t. and .

Denumerability of fractions

The fractions are denumerable (i.e. the set of fractions have the cardinality of the integers), since you may well-order them (in lexicographic order), first by the sum of absolute value of numerator and denominator, then by numerator , discarding fractions which are not in reduced form along the way, giving

A037161 Well-order the rational numbers; take numerators. (Interesting graph!)

{0, -1, 1, -2, -1, 1, 2, -3, -1, 1, 3, -4, -3, -2, -1, 1, 2, 3, 4, -5, -1, 1, 5, -6, -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, -7, -5, -3, -1, 1, 3, 5, 7, -8, -7, -5, -4, -2, -1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, ...}

A037162 Well-order the rational numbers; take denominators.

{1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 5, 5, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 3, 5, 7, 7, 5, 3, 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1, ...}

The number of fractions with is given by the following sequence.

A140434 Number of new visible points created at each step in an n X n grid.

{1, 2, 4, 4, 8, 4, 12, 8, 12, 8, 20, 8, 24, 12, 16, 16, 32, 12, 36, 16, 24, 20, 44, 16, 40, 24, 36, 24, 56, 16, 60, 32, 40, 32, 48, 24, 72, 36, 48, 32, 80, 24, 84, 40, 48, 44, ...}

See also

Notes