One should not overlook that vulgar fractions often express
quantities with absolute accuracy. For example, "7 1/3" is
accurate, but that same accuracy cannot cannot be attained
in a decimal expression "7.333..." with a finite number of digits.
Also, giving you a dessert portion of 1/6 of the pie expresses
the process of cutting the pie into 6 pieces as well the portion.
To a mathematician, there is nothing "vulgar" about "vulgar fractions!"
Clive
> >Am 2000-02-10 um 15:07 h (PST) hat Paul Keinanen geschrieben:
> >> These fractions might be usable in countries using "Imperial" units,
> >> but as far as I know, there are only a few countries still using
> >> "Imperial" units :-).
>
> Why are fractions only usable with Imperial units? Do ISO standards
> forbid metric units to be written as fractions? Also, not everything
> is a unit; fractions are very useful in mathematical formulae, and
> for numbers in general.
>
> Peter.
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