the.com/fraction
proof that you can slice a whole into pieces and still hold the entire thing
means a numerical quantity that represents a part of a whole, expressed as one number divided by another.
from From Latin 'fractio,' meaning 'a breaking,' from 'frangere,' to break or shatter — the same root that gives us 'fragment,' 'fracture,' and 'fragile.' It came into English in the 14th century through Old French, originally a churchman's word for the breaking of the communion bread before mathematicians borrowed it to break numbers instead.
- ancient roots
- Egyptians wrote nearly all fractions as sums of unit pieces
- the bar
- the dividing line is called a vinculum
- infinite forms
- every fraction equals endless equivalent versions
- hidden decimals
- one-third becomes 0.333 forever, never finishing
- latin origin
- from fractus, meaning broken
for instance
golden ratio — the fraction (1+√5)/2 ≈ 1.618, found throughout nature and art since ancient greece
pi — the irrational fraction 22/7 or 355/113 used to approximate circles since archimedes