Rational numbers implement the corresponding mathematical domain,
i.e. ratios of two integers (numerator and denominator).
ECLiPSe
represents rationals in a canonical form where the
greatest common divisor of numerator and denominator is 1 and the
denominator is positive. Rational constants are written as numerator
and denominator separated by an underscore
, e.g.
1_3 -30517578125_32768 0_1Rational arithmetic is arbitrarily precise. When the global flag prefer_rationals is set, the system uses rational arithmetic wherever possible. In particular, dividing two integers then yields a precise rational rather than a float result.