bobg+@andrew.cmu.edu (Robert Steven Glickstein) (06/09/89)
I am writing a Scheme interpreter based in the Revised^3.95 Report on Scheme. I am unable to find or devise an algorithm for the "rationalize" procedure. Rationalize operates on two real, rational or integral numbers. To quote the report: (rationalize x y) Rationalize returns the *simplest* rational number differing from x by no more than y. A rational number r1 is *simpler* than another rational number r2 if r1 = p1/q1 and r2 = p2/q2 (in lowest terms) and |p1| <= |p2| and |q1| <= |q2|. Thus 3/5 is simpler than 4/7. Although not all rationals are comparable in this ordering (consider 2/7 and 3/5) any interval contains a rational number that is simpler than every other rational number in that interval (the simpler 2/5 lies between 2/7 and 3/5). Note that 0 = 0/1 is the simplest rational of all. Thanks in advance. Bob Glickstein, ITC Database Group Information Technology Center Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA