lowest terms


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lowest terms

pl.n.
The numerator and denominator of a fraction that have had all common factors but 1 factored out and canceled.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
As to the men and women, their choice on earth was stated in the prospect--Life on the lowest terms that could sustain it, down in the little village under the mill; or captivity and Death in the dominant prison on the crag.
'Now, mark, Boffin,' returned Silas: 'Mark 'em well, because they're the lowest terms and the only terms.
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
In order to maximize the number of distinguishable channel coefficient denoted by [N.sub.max], the periodicity of the channel [H.sub.P,m] = [D.sub.f]/m should not be reduced to lowest terms, i.e.,
The intermediate adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) provide the lowest terms, particularly for the jumbo lender, with the jumbo rate only slightly above the conforming rate, on average, across the country.
Suppose that [square root of 2] = m/n, where the fraction n is in "lowest terms"--that is, the integers m/n have no common factor.
When the two mixed numbers are expressed as improper fractions, the product is found by multiplying the two numerators together and the two denominators together, resulting in the improper fraction 119/16, and simplifying (reducing) it to the lowest terms, 7 7/16.
And a battle was inevitable, because The Curragh reduces racehorses to their lowest terms. Very few can get up the hill on the bridle, particularly when the early pace is fast.
In some instances, the authors use confusing and outdated language, such as "reduce to lowest terms" in the fraction section, which suggests that the fractional amount is being reduced rather than the idea that an equivalent fraction is to be found.
Students can choose to display results as fractions or mixed numbers and can simplify fractions to the lowest terms, either automatically or step-by-step.
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