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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
Of decimal digits only if it is rational and its fractional part has a denominator whose prime factors are 2 or 5 or both, because these are the prime factors of 10, the base of the decimal system. Thus, for example, one half is 0.5, one fifth is 0.2, one-tenth is 0.1, and one fiftieth is 0.02. Representing other real numbers as decimals would require an infinite sequence of digits to the right of the decimal point. If this infinite sequence of digits follows a pattern, it can be written with an ellipsis or another notation that indicates the repeating pattern. Such a decimal is called a repeating decimal. Thus 1/3 can be written as 0.333..., with an ellipsis to indicate that the pattern continues. Forever repeating 3s are also written as 0.3.[37]It turns out that these repeating decimals (including the repetition of zeroes) denote exactly the rational numbers, i.e., all rational numbers are also real numbers, but it is not the case that every real number is rational. A real number that is not rational is called irrational. A famous irrational real number is the π, the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter. When pi is written asas it sometimes is, the ellipsis does not mean that the decimals repeat (they do not), but rather that there is no end to them. It has been proved that π is irrational. Another well-known number, proven to be an irrational real number, isthe square root of 2, that is, the unique positive real number whose square is 2. Both these numbers have been approximated (by computer) to trillions ( 1 trillion = 1012 = 1,000,000,000,000 ) of digits.Not only these prominent examples but almost all real numbers are irrational and therefore have no repeating patterns and hence
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