+226 Trying to find a reliable method of determining the HCF ((Highest Common Factor) though your name for it may differ) of fractions.
I came across this while factorising and Melody helped me with that initial problem, but it has left me questioning the HCF.
I have found a number of sources stating that the HCF of a fraction is found by the HCF of all the numerators involved, divided by the LCM (Lowest Common Multiple) of all the denominators involved.
Part of the question Melody helped me with was a good example, what is the HCF of 1/2 and 1/4?
According to the method above it is HCF of 1 and 1=1. LCM of 2 and 4=4. So the HCF of 1/2 and 1/4 is 1/4.
I had come up with 1/4 as the HCF myself already though not by this method, more just what made sense.
I have ran this through a number of online HCF calculators and most would only do whole numbers, not fractions. I only found two that did fractions and wouldn't you just know it, one said 1/4 and the other said 1/2.
Is the method above an acceptable method, are there any others or any better?
Thanks
+118677 Sorry Tenacious,
I have only just seen your question.
If your question gets overlooked then I suggest you follow these instructions to highlight this fact.
http://web2.0calc.com/questions/instructions-on-reposting_1
I suggest you forget about the fractions.
It is not something of mathematical importance.
Wolfram|Alpha interprets the answer to be 1/4
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+the+highest+common+factor+of+1%2F2+and+1%2F4
Honestly I do not think you should be getting hung up over this. 
I shall ask other mathematicians to comment.
+118677 Please can other mathematicians comment on this one.
Tenacious is in a knot over it so serious comment would be appreciated.
Thank you
+226 Thanks Melody,
I appreciate all the help offered and the facts that we are at many different time zones and there are many other questions to be answered.
I'm not quite OCD (I hope) but I'm not using the title Tenacious just because it's a nice word, though it does sound better than stubborn old fool, which might be judged to be more accurate sometimes?
As I have no tutor or sylabus to follow, I just scour the net for math tests/worksheets etc. When anything crops up that I can't do or understand I start digging into it until I can do it and understand it. As each subject in maths relies on many other math subjects it's keeping me quite busy, it's a pretty broad subject.
As I found this problem in a worksheet I pressumed it was relevant/important though tests/worksheets can be a bit artificial sometimes as the questions haven't neccessarily come from real problems/situations.
If I am getting a bit OCD on the HCF of fractions (if they are not really that likely/important) then please tell me and I will move onto the next (of many) subjects within maths.
Thanks
