Notices by 𝔑ℭ𝔎𝔫𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 (chevalier26@mastodon.social)

@katrinakatrinka @uss_oatmeal @actuallyautistic Yep! And that's why the system is confusing. It's set up so that 1/16 = 0.1, 2/16 = 0.2, etc. all the way up to 15/16 = 0.15 and 16/16 = 1.0. I have no idea who thought of this but it makes absolutely no sense.

@uss_oatmeal @actuallyautistic Unfortunately I think they'd say 15/2 is also not a proper fraction, and to be fair, it isn't one because the numerator is larger than the denominator. But "15/2" was absolutely the math I was doing in my head.

The issue arose because my mom uses a certain data entry system at her job that uses standard form fractions and decimal equivalents in sixteenths (e.g., 5/16 would be 0.5 in their system). Which is WAY more confusing to me than my own mental math 😅.

@dweebish @actuallyautistic I completely agree on all fronts. I remember having to do complex math problems with fractions like that and they were indeed a pain in the neck lol.

My point in bringing it up in discussion was just a "this is equal to that" type thing. 15/16 is already in standard form, so there's not really a reason to simplify it further anyway.

Though I don't understand how equating 7.5/8 (a hypothetical) to 15/16 means I "don't understand fractions" as my parents claimed.

@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic Somehow got into an argument earlier about fractions with my parents, especially the fraction 15/16. I said that 7.5/8 is the same thing as 15/16, because they can be converted to each other by multiplying or dividing the numerator and denominator by 2.

My mom basically said, no, that's not right because it's not a "proper fraction" which doesn't make sense to me. The math checks out, and numerators can have decimal integers. Is there something I'm missing?