What is the difference between Fractions and Rational numbers?
A mythical symbol in ancient Egyptian civilization, known for its stability, was used to represent unit fractions with each of its parts.
RATIONAL NUMBERS
Rational numbers are numbers which can be expressed on the number line and hence should be represented in the p/q form. Now Integers, which are natural numbers, zero and negative numbers can obviously be represented on the number line and the denominator of these numbers is 1.
Now the other types of numbers is Fractions, which is derived from the word “Fracto” meaning to break. This is deeply rooted in civilizations that had to divide bread and wine to its laborers.
Now the Egyptians who were known for their Hieroglyphics used different parts of the Eye of Horus to represent unit fractions and then represent other with unique combinations of these unit fractions. The Eye of Horus is a very important chapter in their mythology. Horus was the son of Osiris who was the god of afterlife and rebirth. Once Seth, brother of Osiris went to battle with Osiris and killed him. Horus later fought Seth and lost his eyes in the battle and was restored by The god of Thor. This hence signifies restoration, protection and healing and a very important symbol in Egypt.
Now for us, we have two ways of looking at fractions.
-
One is where they are smaller than 1 and the other when they are greater than 1.
-
Second when they are either terminating decimals or non-terminating but reoccurring.
-
13/8 and 13/7 respectively.
Now, it is very important to note the difference between Rational numbers and Fractions. Rational numbers are a superset of Fractions. They include negative fractions. These numbers have no relevance in comparing two quantiles in materialistic world.
Now all was well when there came numbers which were both non-terminating and also non-recurring. This was a huge threat to the Greeks who believed that the cosmos had to be represented only by Rational numbers. When one among them Hipparchus, discovered that square root of 2, which was the length of diagonal of a unit square through Pythagoras formula, was a irrational number is alleged to be thrown out of a vessel into the sea.