Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Simple continued fraction
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==History== * 300 BCE ''[[Euclid's Elements]]'' contains an algorithm for the [[greatest common divisor]], whose [[Euclidean algorithm|modern version]] generates a continued fraction as the sequence of quotients of successive [[Euclidean division]]s that occur in it. * 499 The ''[[Aryabhatiya]]'' contains the solution of indeterminate equations using continued fractions * 1572 [[Rafael Bombelli]], ''L'Algebra Opera'' β method for the extraction of square roots which is related to continued fractions * 1613 [[Pietro Cataldi]], ''Trattato del modo brevissimo di trovar la radice quadra delli numeri'' β first notation for continued fractions :Cataldi represented a continued fraction as <math>a_0</math> & <math>\frac{n_1}{d_1 \cdot}</math> & <math>\frac{n_2}{d_2 \cdot}</math> & <math>\frac{n_3}{d_3 \cdot}</math> with the dots indicating where the following fractions went. * 1695 [[John Wallis]], ''Opera Mathematica'' β introduction of the term "continued fraction" * 1737 [[Leonhard Euler]], ''De fractionibus continuis dissertatio'' β Provided the first then-comprehensive account of the properties of continued fractions, and included the first proof that the number [[e (mathematical constant)|e]] is irrational.{{sfn|Sandifer|2006}} * 1748 Euler, ''[[List of important publications in mathematics#Introductio in analysin infinitorum|Introductio in analysin infinitorum]]''. Vol. I, Chapter 18 β proved the equivalence of a certain form of continued fraction and a generalized [[infinite series]], proved that every rational number can be written as a finite continued fraction, and proved that the continued fraction of an irrational number is infinite.{{sfn|Euler|1748}} * 1761 [[Johann Lambert]] β gave the first proof of the irrationality of [[Pi|{{pi}}]] using a continued fraction for [[Trigonometric functions|tan(x)]]. * 1768 [[Joseph-Louis Lagrange]] β provided the general solution to Pell's equation using continued fractions similar to Bombelli's * 1770 Lagrange β proved that [[quadratic irrational number|quadratic irrationals]] expand to [[periodic continued fraction]]s. * 1813 [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]], ''Werke'', Vol. 3, pp. 134β138 β derived a very general [[Gauss's continued fraction|complex-valued continued fraction]] via a clever identity involving the [[hypergeometric function]] * 1892 [[Henri PadΓ©]] defined [[PadΓ© approximant]] * 1972 [[Bill Gosper]] β First exact algorithms for continued fraction arithmetic.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)