Stacked fractions

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Revision as of 16:38, 12 July 2021 by Hpecora1 (talk | contribs) (Added reference for convoluted example due to Barry Mazur who was trying to annoy Serge Lang.)
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A fraction written on multiple levels is often ambiguous, especially when handwritten. For example, \(\frac{10}{\frac{2}{5}}\) and \(\frac{\frac{10}{2}}{5}\) result in 25 and 1, respectively.

Things get even worse when you use the letter \(\Xi\) in this convoluted example[1]:

A handwritten stacked fraction with Xi bar divided by Xi. In effect it looks like nothing more than a stack of eight horizontal lines of varying sizes.
\(\frac{\bar \Xi}{\Xi}\), handwritten