Tau PDF
Tau PDF
Tau PDF
PREAMBULA
"The paper presented is the work of my twelve year old boy who took
more than a year to gather courage to submit it for editorial scrutiny.
You may be interested to know that when my son first received, a
subscription to Mathematics Magazine about two and a half years ago, he
was aghast to note that he couldn't understand a single thing in it. With each
successive issue, however, his understanding unfolded (he is a self-taught
mathematician) until now he awaits each issue with eagerness, and recently
was able to submit his solution to one of the Proposals published in your last
issue. He considers his subscription to Mathematics Magazine one of the
finest presents he ever received!"
Sincerely yours,
Sylvia Bergman
A NUMBER SYSTEM WITH AN
l RRAT l O N A L BASE
George Bergman
.
(a. ) Take any approximation (A of r Taking t h e reciprocal, we get a
number ( a 3 t h a t i s proportionately the same distance from P / r a s A I W ~ S
from 7 , but arithmetically nearer. Adding lr2 we g e t a number (A 2) t h a t
i s proportionately nearer r than a1 was t o l / r but arithmetically just
as near. Since a1 i s arithmetically nearer than A A 2 i s nearer i n b o t h
respects t o r than A l e Repeating the process of taking the reciprocal
.
and adding 1, we approach r Now, taking 1 as A and expressing our
approximations of 7 ( i . e . A lrA2rA3, e t c . ) as f r a c t i o n s , we g e t
Since
r 1 = IT +0 and r 2 = 17 + 1,
and since
r3= T 2 + Ti; T 3 = (lr + 0) + (1s + 1) = 2r + 1.
I n the same way
I n general
T n= p - 1 n-2
+ r =(fn~lr+fn-2)+(fn-2r+fn-,)
= ( f n - 1 + fn- 2)' + ( f n -2 + fn-?)
4
= fn' + fn- 1 (see Mote 2.)
Can t h i s be applied t o negative powers of T 7 We donst lrrlow any Fxbon-
acci numbers before 1, but it i s easy ro see how we can f i n d them:
Taking 1 and 1 as our first two, we can see t h a t the term before must.
be 0 , since t h a t i s the only nurnber which, when added t o 1 gives P. En
the same way, the number before t h a t must be 1, since 1 1 s the only nwi-
ber t h a t , &en added t o 0 gives 1; and the next term must be -1, since
no other number gives 0 when added t o 1. Continu~ngt h i s process, we
g e t 0 , 1, -1, 2 , - 3 , 5, - 8 , 13, -21.. ..
Obviously. this i s a l t e r n a t e l y
+ 1 and -1 times the corresponding Fibonacci nunhers, But can t h i s be
proved t o be t r u e i l l a l l cases? I t can by inductioml. The xule we wnnt
t o prove, expressed as an equation, i s :
f = (-1)Y + I f y
"Y
would be represented by
I'I
We expand one of the- 1% there:
and express our answer i n ordinary form, writing 1's i n columns with an
un-crossed-out 1 and 0% i n the columns where a l l have been crossed out:
100101.001001 (15)
MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE 103
For g e n e r a l r u l e s as t o procedure, I b e l i e v e t h a t t h e s e w i l l do
i n most cases. (These g e n e r a l r u l e s and t h e ones f o r t h e o t h e r
processes are not the types of r u l e s t h a t , i f disobeyed, w u l d give t h e
wrong answer, but merely guides t o t h e cpickest way t o g e t the r i g h t
one ) :
a) Expand only when t h a t i s the only way t o remve a 1 from the same
column as another, regardless of whether t h i s will r e s u l t i n the same
s i t u a t i o n i n another cclumn, but only i f no more simplificat.ion can be
done.
b) Simplify whenever possible, and, i f there are two o r more p a i r s ,
always simplify the one f a r t h e s t t o t h e l e f t first. Because of this rule,
simplification should never r e s u l t i n two 1's i n t h e same column, i. e.
111111) should be simplified i n t o 111~ 1
A l j h e t h 11 I
I bid.
Subtract ion
and simplify t h e r e s u l t i n g- p- a i r 6n t h e T
our f i n a l answer
o r 1000.1001 (5)
Mu l t ip 1 i c a t ion
S e t t i n g up t h e p a r t i a l p r o d u c t s , we g e t 10101 o r
10 10 1
and t h e p a i r we t h u s produce:
and a g a i n t h e p a i r t h i s s i m p l i f i c a t i o n produces, g e t t i n g :
or lOOOOO.1O4OO1
Division
But now, you may say, there are no more pairs of 1's spaced in that way;
what shall we do? The answer i s our old pair of friends, expansion and
simplification. Since they do not change the value of a number, if either
of those processes yields a s e t of 1's spaced correctly, that s e t can be
crossed off and a I placed in the quotient just a s though that s e t were
part of the original number. Since in our problem it i s s o far impossible
to simplify, we shall expand. Expanding the 1 in the r 7 column, we get
we have not one but two such s e t s (remember that all w e need i s two 1's
with that certain separation, regardless of intervening and crossed out
1 9 s ) , one made of the 1's in the a' and r4 columns, and the other of the
1's in the r 3 and r 6 columns. Crossing them both out and placing the 1's
in the correct places in the quotient, we get
I
and since there are no more 19sin the dividend, our number in the quotient
is the complete quotient, and s o 1010.0001, or 6 , i s our answer. This
time the general rule is: Always take that course of action that will place
your next 1 (i.e., a 1 in the quotient-set in the dividend) farthest to the
left. By a course of action, I mean a series of expansions and simpiifi-
cations and the exchange of a s e t for a 1 in the quotient that fo29ows; or
simply that exchange, if the s e t i s already there, (1 did not obey this rule
in my demonstration so that I could show the proceqs in a simpler way.)
This is s o that the answer be in i t s simplest form.
By the way, the processes of addition, subtraction, aid often ~nult'apli-
cation, can be performed together by writing the addends, the subtrahends,
and the partial products in one s e t of columns; for instance: 2 x 3 + 4 + 3 - 3:
1 1 partial products
addends
Now that we know these four processes, we have a much better way of
finding a number in this system than merely repeatedly adding 1's until
we reach it. For instance, to find thirty-seven, we can multiply 6 x 6 and
add 1; to check the arithmetic, we multiply 7 x 5 and add 2:
What's more, we are not only able to find integers, but, since we can
divide, we ought to be able to find fractions also. L e t us try. First, we
shall attempt to find 1/,. We begin by setting up our division:
Our first set, a s can be seen, will have i t s leftmost I in the '7 column.
We therefore expand the 1 in the r 2 column:
The Tau System has a good many other. ~ntersstingand unusual char-
acteristics, and investigation by the readers of some, suclr a s tho frequency,
occurrence, and nature of numbers with a 1 in the u n i ~ scolumn (when in
simplest form) might prove interesting, d do not know of any useful applacation
for systems such as this, except a s a mental exercise and pascirne, though
it may be of some service in algebraic number theory. FOPinsta11ce, the
numbers expressible in the Tau System in terminating form consist of
all the algebrnlc integers in R ( f i ) , and some of the properties of numbers
in this andother systems might correspond to facts about associated fields,
Definitions /%vented f o ~~ Y O in
T ~the Tau S y s t e m
Expand: alter three successive figures of a number by changing ...100.,.
to ...011... The result i s the same in value as the original, because
of rule (I), This does not mean change zeros to ones and ones to
zeros; just this specific change.
Simplify: the reverse of expand; alter the figures thus: chan e 011. ... ..
to ...
100... One speaks of simplifying the 19s in the r n-k and ,n-2
columns into the rn column. Also, one speaks sf expanding the 1 in
110 N U M B E R SYSTEM
Set: in division, two or more 1's arranged with the same spacing a s the
1's in the divisor (regardless of intervening 1's). A s e t can be "ex-
changed" for a 1 in the quotient.
'also true OF - I / ? ; there are other numbers which have similar properties,
e.g. there i s a number S between 1 and 2 for which s3 = s 2 + S + 1. E d .
2because 7-'+ r 0 = 7 .
3this i s the basic property defining the Fibonacci Series.
4 ~ h e r ei s also a more complex proof which involves multiplying the ex-
pressions like 2 r + 1 by 7, giving 2 r 2 + r , and expanding, r2 into r + 1.
5 ~ h i is
s a restatement of r n = r + 7 n-2.
6 ~ changing
y the 1 in the 7 column to 1.1.
7 ~ you
f come across words (like "expand") used in an unfamiliar way,
look for them in the list of definitions at the end of this article. I have
put there all words which I have had to invent or alter for use in this
system, s o a s not to break up the text by explaining them.