818 B
818 B
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| Improper Fractions |
Improper Fractions
Fractions of integers can be classified as either proper or improper, though this distinction has no effect mathematically on how to add/multiply/use them.
If we have a fraction a/b, where a and b are integers and b is not 0, then when a < b or |a| < |b| we say the fraction is proper. All other fractions are called improper.
For example, 1/2, 2/3, 3/5 and -6/17 are all proper fractions, while 1/1, 3/2, -4/3 and 99/3 are all improper fractions.
The term likely originates from the original use of fractions to be part of a whole and improper fractions are the generalization to this notion.