From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!rjs Newsgroups: net.math Title: Re: Rebuttal: Using a computer to solve ABCDE problem (***SPOILER***) Article-I.D.: floyd.376 Posted: Fri Jul 16 18:03:46 1982 Received: Sat Jul 17 02:26:27 1982 References: ihuxv.190 Another interesting use of computers to find patterns is to start with the observation that to solve 16/64, just cancel the 6's and obtain 1/4. The question then becomes "What other numbers have this property?". I did some experimenting along this line last year with a computer and discovered a number of interesting (but usless for everyday living) patterns. The only one I remember off hand is that 16666...6/6666...64 = 1/4 (same number of 6's top & bottom). p.s. There are 4 sets of 2-digit numerators and denominators which exhibit this cancelation property and are non-trivial (i.e. 11/66). All of them extend to n-digit numbers in a manner similar to 16/64. Robert Snyder (harpo!floyd!rjs)