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Harmonic Triangle printable worksheet
This is the start of the harmonic triangle:
\begin{array}{ccccccccccc} & & & & &\frac{1}{1} & & & & & \\ & & & & \frac{1}{2} & & \frac{1}{2} & & & & \\ & & & \frac{1}{3} & &\frac{1}{6} & & \frac{1}{3} & & & \\ & & \frac{1}{4} & &\frac{1}{12} & & \frac{1}{12} & & \frac{1}{4} & & \\
& \frac{1}{5} & & \frac{1}{20} & & \frac{1}{30} & & \frac{1}{20} & & \frac{1}{5} & \\ \frac{1}{6} & & \frac{1}{30} & & \frac{1}{60} & & \frac{1}{60} & & \frac{1}{30} & & \frac{1}{6}\\ & & & & & \ldots& & & & & \end{array}
Each fraction is equal to the sum of the two fractions below it.
Look at the triangle above and check that the rule really does work.
Can you work out the next two rows?
The $n$th row starts with the fraction $\frac{1}{n}$, so the first diagonal goes:
$\frac{1}{1}$, $\frac{1}{2}$, $\frac{1}{3}$, $\frac{1}{4}$...
What about the third and fourth diagonals?
Click here for a poster of this problem.
Explore the continued fraction: 2+3/(2+3/(2+3/2+...)) What do you notice when successive terms are taken? What happens to the terms if the fraction goes on indefinitely?
Which rational numbers cannot be written in the form x + 1/(y + 1/z) where x, y and z are integers?