the reason some people don't like the term "least common denominator" is that taken literally this is always 1. but in fact what is meant is the least common multiple of the denominators of fractions, in which case the term does make some sense (e.g. the lowest common denominator of 1/9 and 5/6 is 18, since 1/9 = 2/18 and 5/6 = 15/18).
this still doesn't mean "common baseline". -rishab On Sun, 2006-11-19 at 18:09 +0530, Abhijit Menon-Sen wrote: > At 2006-11-18 17:59:47 +0530, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > [I prefer the term "least common denominator" here]. > > Oh, do you. Well, I hate the term. In terms of arithmetic and fractions, > it's entirely meaningless, and it distresses me that everyone uses it as > if it means "a common baseline". > > -- ams
