Re: Converting decimal number to carpenter's fractions
- Posted by mattlewis (admin) May 08, 2012
- 2364 views
K_D_R said...
said...
For some things, decimals are easier. For other things, fractions are easier.
There are times when fractions are "cleaner" and more exact than are rounded decimals.
Please give me an example to illustrate your point.
I think the simplest example is 1/3. It has no exact representation, of course, in binary fractions (e.g., IEEE floating point numbers). Likewise, money fractions tend to be 1/100s, many of which cannot be represented exactly in binary fractions. It can be very important to get exact answers from calculations using these sorts of numbers where the errors introduced by binary approximations are unacceptable.
Matt
