complex fraction

American

noun

Mathematics.

a fraction in which the numerator or the denominator or both contain one or more fractions.

complex fraction British

noun

Also called: compound fraction. maths a fraction in which the numerator or denominator or both contain fractions

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of complex fraction

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She explained it all to Elizabeth one day, behind their slates, when the complex fraction refused to become simple.

From Project Gutenberg

When she jumped up from her easy-chair, she was trying to reduce the following complex fractions, into one simple one, and entirely failed.

From Project Gutenberg

He cancels them out with the same delight as if they were figures in a complex fraction.

From Project Gutenberg

It was such a bower of beauty that Elizabeth could scarcely believe she had stood there only yesterday, striving desperately to make a complex fraction turn simple.

From Project Gutenberg

It was no easy task getting over her idle habits; and it was so easy when a complex fraction proved stubborn to turn one's slate into an easel.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023