ENCYCLOPEDIA 4U .com



Encyclopedia Home Page

Google
  Web Encyclopedia4u.com

 

Dyadic fraction

A dyadic fraction is a fraction in which the denominator is a power of two, i.e. a rational number of the form a/2b where a is an integer and b is a natural number. (Like fractions of an inch as commonly used in the US, for instance) These are precisely the numbers whose binary expansion is finite. The set of all dyadic fractions is dense in the real line; it is a rather "small" dense set, which is why it sometimes occurs in proofs, see for instance Urysohn's lemma. The dyadic fractions form a subring of Q.

what properties does this ring have?

The surreal numbers are generated by an iterated construction principle which starts by generating all finite dyadic fractions, and then goes on to create new and strange kinds of infinite, infinitesimal and other numbers.

The ancient Egyptians used Horus-eye notation for dyadic fractions.





Content on this web site is provided for informational purposes only. We accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by any person resulting from information published on this site. We encourage you to verify any critical information with the relevant authorities.



Copyright © 2005 Par Web Solutions All Rights reserved.
| Privacy

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dyadic fraction".