CONTINUED FRACTION

expression of a number as the sum of an integer and a quotient, the denominator of which is the sum of an integer and a quotient, and so on. In general, In a simple continued fraction (SCF), all the numerators bi are equal to 1 and all the leading terms ai of the denominators are positive integers. An SCF is written, in the compact form, [a0; a1, a2, a3, . . . ]. If the number of terms ai is finite, the SCF is said to terminate, and it represents a rational number; for example, 802/251 = [3; 5, 8, 6]. If the number of these terms is infinite, the SCF does not terminate, and it represents an irrational number; for example, = [4; 1, 3, 1, 8], in which the bar spans a sequence of terms that repeats indefinitely. A nonterminating SCF in which a sequence of terms recurs represents an irrational number that is a root of a quadratic equation with rational coefficients. Nonterminating SCFs that represent numbers such as p or e can be evaluated after any given number of terms to obtain a rational approximation to the irrational quantity.