Timeline for What is it called when terms disappear when reducing fractions?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
4 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 14, 2018 at 19:19 | comment | added | Bill Dubuque | @only_pro I refer specifically to "cancelling the denominator(s)". For example, precisely what does the mean when applied to $\dfrac{bx}b = \dfrac{bc}b$? Does it yield $bx = bc$ (as in this answer) or $x = c$? | |
| Sep 14, 2018 at 19:15 | comment | added | user91988 | @Number Are you sure you've never heard this? It sounds like you're trying to be pedantically "correct" but not correct in terms of actual usage. "The b's cancel [out]" is surely a very common way that someone would describe this scenario. Certainly how I would say it. Usage is what matters, not technicality. And I'm unsure why "respectable texts" matter. Most people don't speak like how a textbook reads... | |
| Sep 14, 2018 at 17:06 | comment | added | Bill Dubuque | I've never heard that language used. Do you have links to its use in respectable texts? it is incorrect terminology because it is not the denominator $b$ that is being cancelled but instead its inverse $b^{-1} = 1/b$ Usually cancelling the denominator refers to $\,bc/b = c,$ i.e. cancelling $b$ from $bx = bc$ $\quad$ | |
| Sep 14, 2018 at 16:13 | history | answered | Milo Brandt | CC BY-SA 4.0 |