Re: Interesting applications of rational arithmetic needed

[att!cbnewsl!willett@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (david.c.willett)]

In article <1991Nov24.224318.6174@milton.u.washington.edu>, mfeldman@milton.u.w
ashington.edu (Michael Feldman) writes:
> Dear colleagues:
> 
> The canonical example of an ADT package (in Ada and elsewhere) is
> rational arithmetic. Well and good. But can someone out there point
> me to some interesting and useful applications of rationals? I'm trying to
> cook up interesting student projects, etc. The application should be
> palatable to a freshman or sophomore (I can boil it down if necessary).
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Mike Feldman

I'm not a professor, but I've always thought that an interesting application 
using only the rational numbers is  calendars/schedulers.  If I remember
correctly, one of the mathematicians who devised the Gregorian Calendar
obsereved that "The year should contain an integral number of days."
The same observation holds for hours, minutes, and seconds.(in everyday use)

Dave Willett -- AT&T Federal Systems

** Opinions expressed above are my own **