From Fraction to Decimal and Back?

Question

Is it possible to store a fraction like 3/6 in a variable of some sort? When I try this it only stores the numbers before the /. I know that I can use 2 variables and divide them, but the input is from a single text field. Is this at all possible?

I want to do this because I need to calculate the fractions to decimal odds.

A bonus question ;) - Is there an easy way to calculate a decimal value to a fraction? Thanks..

Answer 1

Well in short, there is no true way to extract the original fraction out of a decimal.

Example: take 5/10

you will get 0.5

now, 0.5 also translates back to 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, etc.

Your best bet is to store each integer separately, and perform the calculation later on.

Answer 2

The best thing to do is to implement a fraction class (or rational number class). Normally it would take a numerator and denominator and be able to provide a double, and do basic math with other fraction objects. It should also be able to parse and format fractions.

Rational Arithmetic on Rosetta Code looks like something good to start with.