Editing Slash (punctuation) (section)

==== Fractions ====
The slash is used between two numbers to indicate a [[fraction]] or [[ratio]]. Such formatting developed as a way to write the horizontal [[fraction bar]] on a single line of text. It is first attested in [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Viceroyalty of Mexico|Mexico]] in the 18th century.<ref name="jeff">{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Jeff |title=Fractions |url=http://jeff560.tripod.com/fractions.html |work=Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols |via=Tripod.com |date=22 December 2014 |access-date=15 February 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602010313/https://jeff560.tripod.com/fractions.html |archive-date=2 June 2023}}</ref> This notation is known as an online, solidus,<ref name="Eckersley et al">{{cite book |last1=Eckersley |first1=Richard |last2=Angstadt |first2=Richard |last3=Ellertson |first3=Charles M. |last4=Hendel |first4=Richard |last5=Pascal |first5=Naomi B. |last6=Walker Scott |first6=Anita |title=Glossary of Typesetting Terms |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1994 |ref={{harvid|Eckersley & al.|1994}} |isbn=0226183718 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oeTnynRiN8AC&pg=PA93 93], [https://books.google.com/books?id=oeTnynRiN8AC&pg=PA97 97]}}</ref> or shilling fraction.<ref name="Eckersley et al" /> Nowadays fractions, unlike inline division, are often given using smaller numbers, [[superscript]], and [[subscript]] (e.g., {{sup|23}}/{{sub|43}}). This notation is responsible for the current form of the [[percent sign|percent]] {{char|%}}, [[permille]] {{char|‰}}, and [[permyriad]] {{char|‱}} signs, developed from the horizontal form {{sfrac|0|0}} which represented an early modern corruption of an Italian abbreviation of ''per cento''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=D. E. |title=Rara Arithmetica |date=1908 |location=Boston |publisher=Ginn & Co. |url= https://archive.org/details/67224711 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

[[File:123 fraction slash 456.svg|thumb|A fraction automatically generated by the font from basic digits and the Unicode fraction bar, 123⁄456.]]
Unicode provides for a dedicated fraction slash {{char|⁄}} that is distinct from the ASCII solidus {{char|/}}. Many typefaces draw this fraction slash (and the division slash) at a less vertical angle than the solidus. The separate encoding permits automatic formatting of the preceding and succeeding digits by glyph substitution with numerator and denominator glyphs, which are in turn distinct from superscript and subscript glyphs (e.g., display of "1, fraction slash, 2" as {{notatypo|"½"}}, and similarly "123, fraction slash, 456" as "123⁄456").<ref>{{cite book |title=The Unicode Standard |edition=6.0 |page=192 |chapter=Writing Systems and Punctuation: General Punctuation: Fraction Slash |chapter-url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/ch06.pdf#G12861 |date=2011 |isbn=9781936213016 |editor1-first=Julie D. |editor-last=Allen |ref={{harvid|Unicode|2011}} |publisher=Unicode Consortium |access-date=30 May 2018 |archive-date=30 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150730233934/http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/ch06.pdf#G12861 |url-status=live}}</ref> This is supported by an increasing number of environments and [[computer font]]s. Because support is not yet universal, some authors still use [[Unicode subscripts and superscripts#Uses|Unicode subscripts and superscripts]] to compose fractions, and many computer fonts design these characters for this purpose. In addition, [[precomposed character|precomposed fractions]] of the multiples less than 1 of {{sup|1}}/{{sub|n}} for 2 ≤ n ≤ 6 and n = 8 (e.g. {{notatypo|⅔}} and {{notatypo|⅝}}, as well as {{notatypo|⅐}}, {{notatypo|⅑}}, and {{notatypo|⅒}}, are found in the Unicode [[Number Forms]] or [[Latin-1 Supplement (Unicode block)|Latin-1 Supplement]] blocks.<ref>{{cite web |work=The Unicode Standard |edition=12.1 |publisher=Unicode Consortium |title=Number Forms |date=2019 |url=https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2150.pdf |access-date=22 November 2019 |archive-date=24 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191124140205/http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2150.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

This notation can also be used when the concept of fractions is extended from numbers to arbitrary rings by the method of [[localization of a ring]].