---
product_id: 8251253
title: "Continued Fractions (Dover Books on Mathematics)"
brand: "dover publications"
price: "$31"
currency: NZD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 11
category: "Book"
url: https://www.desertcart.nz/products/8251253-continued-fractions-dover-books-on-mathematics
store_origin: NZ
region: New Zealand
---

# Continued Fractions (Dover Books on Mathematics)

**Brand:** dover publications
**Price:** $31
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Continued Fractions (Dover Books on Mathematics) by dover publications
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Continued Fractions (Dover Books on Mathematics)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Classical Work on Number Theory of Continued Fractions
  

*by T***R on Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2016*

This material in this classic work is mostly accessible to the undergraduate level engineer, mathematics, or other reader with similar background, but a good portion of this book is about measure theory of continued fractions, which is more easily accessed by those who have some mathematics background at the graduate level.Measure theory is the theory of the fraction of the extent of a domain that is mapped from the range of inputs to a function.  Measure theory is used primarily by Khinchin and his students, but similar work is posed in terms of probability theory and other contexts by other mathematicians.  Once this is understood (and it is hinted at by a footnote or two from the translator), this material becomes as accessible as the rest of the material.The book begins with a minor aside in a proof of convergence of continued fractions that have real partial numerators and denominators, whose partial numerators are all unity, and the sum of whose partial denominators diverges.  Since the simple classical number-theoretic continued fractions are the subject of the book, this proof clearly includes all such continued fractions.  This minor excursion from number theory and algebra is a significant advantage to this particular book as it provides a bedrock for later rate-of-convergence discussions.The related field of analytic theory of continued fractions that was explored by Riemann, Stieltjes, Tchebychev, Padé, Hamburger, Cesàro, and others that are contemporary to Khinchin (memorable classic by H.S. Wall was published in 1948, long after this book was written), is not ignored entirely.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Review by J. Colannino
  

*by J***O on Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2012*

Continued fractions are fractions with multiple denominators; e.g., the golden ratio = 1+1/(1+1/(1+..., the square root of 2 = 1+1/(2+1/(2+.... Indeed, all quadratic irrationals have repeating continued fractions, giving them a convenient and easily memorable algorithm. Continued fractions may be truncated at any point to give the best rational approximation. For example 1/pi = 113/355 -- something that is very easy to remember (note the doubles of the odd numbers up to five). Therefore, an excellent approximation for pi becomes 355/113. The fraction approximates pi to an error better than 3E-7, more than accurate enough for any practical use including astronomy. Thus for both transcendental and analytical irrationals, continued fractions are enormously useful.Never heard of them? You're not alone. The first recorded instance of continued fractions was by Lord Brouncker in the 17th century which makes them a relatively new addition to mathematics. Nor are they taught in typical undergraduate scientific curricula. Notwithstanding, if they were discovered by the Pythagoreans, history may have been much different.The Pythagoreans were a mystical sect that believed that all things geometric could be described by rational numbers (i.e., wholes and fractions). Something like the square root of two was clearly geometric (the diagonal of the unit square) yet, irrational. Legend has it that Hippasus (5th century B.C.) was expelled from (or killed by) the Pythagorean school for proving the irrationality of a number such as the square root of 2 or the golden ratio. This ultimately destroyed the Pythagorean religion. Had the theory of continued fractions been discovered at this time, irrationals would have been reduced to infinite fractions of whole numbers and the religion may have well survived until (or perhaps interfered with) the advent of Christianity.This monograph by the Russian mathematician, Aleksandr Khinchin, is a very inexpensive way to obtain a good introduction. The author died in 1959, however, his third edition of the book was translated into English in 1964 and revised in 1997. The monograph is less than 100 pages and organized into three chapters: I. Properties of the Apparatus; II. The Representation of Numbers by Continued Fractions; III. The Measure Theory of Continued Fractions. The book also has a brief and inadequate index.Some of the fascinating things one will learn is that if a/b < c/d then the value (a+c)/(b+d) is always intermediate: a/b < (a+c)/(b+d) < c/d. Repeated application of this algorithm gives an infinitely divisible and ordered sequence of rational numbers; e.g., the infinite sequence 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4... 0/1 is one such application of the theorem. One can also prove that 355/113 is the best three digit rational approximation to pi -- a result of remarkable accuracy. One will also learn that all rational numbers can be represented by finite continued fractions. For example, 54/17 = 3+1/(5+1/(1+1/2)). Therefore, continued fractions are capable of representing all real numbers: some as finite fractions (e.g. 54/17 or any rational), some as non-terminating repeating fractions (e.g., square root of 2 or any quadratic root), some as non-repeating non-terminating fractions having a pattern [e.g., Euler's constant, e = 2+1/(1+1/(2+1/(1+1/(1+1/(4+1/(1+1/(1+1/(6+....], and others as non-terminating non-repeating fractions without pattern [e.g., pi = 3 + 1/(7+1/(15+1/(1+1/(292+1/(1+1/(1+...]. Regarding the latter, if one can derive an infinite series representation, then it is possible to recast the regular continuing fraction (numerator of 1s) as an irregular continuing fraction having a pattern [e.g., pi = 3+1/(6+9/(6+25/(6+49/(6+...].Thus, continued fractions are a powerful mathematical device, and this book provides a reasonable if not brief introduction.

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Not bad (for the money)
  

*by R***S on Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2017*

An OK book. Not technically difficult, basically just high-school algebra. Has a nice proof on page 16 that a finite continued fraction (CF) is a rational number and an infinite one is an irrational number. And around page 48, a proof that the solution of a quadratic equation can be written as a infinite CF. Thereafter is a lot of stuff about convergence and something called measure theory.My one quibble is that it is all theoretical. I was hoping for specific examples - like an infinite continued fraction that equals eg square root of 2 - but there was nothing like that. Fortunately that sort of thing can be found easily with a web search, esp. Wikipedia.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-23*