The term "vulgar fraction" has nothing to do with how
nice or beautiful a number is.
On 2005 Oct 10 , at 4:33 AM, Stephen Humphreys wrote:
It might be worth pointing out that creating a psuedo-hostility between decimal notation and fractions and pretending it has something to do with metric and imperial is usually the last resort of either side to win a pointless argument.
I agree with Stephen G. I learned the term "vulgar fraction" a long time ago before the metric issue was even considered. A vulgar fraction (also called a common fraction and by some called just a fraction) is a number expressed as a ratio of two whole numbers.
It is not a pointless argument (as Stephen H. wrote) to emphasize that metric allows us to eliminate (or at least reduce) the use of common ("vulgar") fractions. Common fractions are used almost exclusively in measurements done in Ye Olde English mixture of measurements. Not using that non-metric measuring system would save significant amounts of money and time in education MAINLY because it would eliminate the need to teach the arithmetic of common fractions (and mixed numbers).
Common fractions do have some significance aside from Ye Olde English system, but those uses would not be common and the teaching of them could be relegated to more advanced courses in mathematics. It would be easier to teach when students had already studied algebra, for example. (Exceptions for the common fractions "one half" and "one quarter" could certainly be made without negating my arguments above.)
In an aside to the main issues, I consider it poor practice to call common fractions just "fractions" because decimal fractions are also fractions. Fraction means a part of something less than the whole and really does not have anything to do with whether it is expressed in ratio or decimal (or some other) form. In general use, however, we find many people use the term "fractions" to mean fractions expressed as ratios and "decimals" to mean fractions expressed as decimal numbers.
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
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Make it simple; Make it Metric
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