Friday, 13 December 2019

Are there any bases which represent all rationals in a finite number of digits?



In base 10, 1/3 cannot be represented in a finite number of digits. Examples exist in many other bases (notably base 2, as it's relevant to computing). I'm wondering: does there exist any base in which every rational number can be represented in a finite number of digits? My intuition is that the answer is no. If so, what is a proof of this?


Answer




Your intuition is correct for instance for all b>2, 1b1 is not going to have a finite representation, and will have the representation
1b1=0.1111111....b. Eg, 19=.11111111 in base 10.


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