A way to write decimal fractions like $1.333\dots$

fractionsnotation

Sorry if my question sounds odd; I'm a typographer, not a mathematician. Is there a better way to write decimal fractions like $1.333\dots$ or $1.444\dots$?

By "better" I mean that

  • it should be clear that the decimal point is followed by infinite series of only one digit (that is, it should be clear that we mean $1.33333333333333\dots$ and not something like $1.3333333333333341333\dots$)

  • the notation should be compact. This is why writing these fraction like $4:3$ or $13:9$ is not a way to go for me.

Best Answer

You can do that by simply putting a bar on top of the decimal digits that repeat, for example, $\frac{1}{7} = 0.142857142857142857...$ which you can write $0.\overline{142857}$.

It's even better to write fractions like $\frac{3}{44} = 0.06\overline{81}$ which have repeating digits that don't start immediately after the dot.

You can find some other ways to write fractions on this website if you want (in section 1.4).

Related Question