Re: TI-M: Algebra
[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: TI-M: Algebra
In a message dated 6/4/00 6:16:13 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
noveck@pluto.njcc.com writes:
> For any rational finite decimal, you just have to make it num/10^x, where x
> is the number of decimal places, and then cancel out any common prime
> factors of the numerator and denominator until they're relatively prime
(ie,
> the fraction is fully simplified - the only factor shared by the numerator
> and denominator is one). BTW, in this case the denominator's prime factors
> will only be 2 and 5.
>
> For rational infinite decimals, they're going to start repeating a pattern
> at one point. Take, for example, 5/33 = .15151515... Now, the
mathematical
> process to "exact" this would be:
But of course infinitely repeating decimals are stored with a finite number
of significant digits, so perhaps another problem to consider is when is a
"finitely" repeating decimal 5/33, and when is it 15/100, 1515/10000,
151515/1000000, etc.?
JayEll