• Sadbutdru@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    13 days ago

    Is that done in some environments? I think Maxima gives answers as fractions by default, but didn’t know how that worked. And my Casio calculator can stick to fractions and surds up to a point, but I think it’s just using float under the surface and converting back ok until too much rounding error creeps in…

    • bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      13 days ago

      think Maxima gives answers as fractions by default, but didn’t know how that worked.

      It’s likely based on the theory of continued fractions and the calculator has a limit to the maximum denominator allowed to return an approximation of the fraction.