Fractran: Difference between revisions

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As a part of the preparation, for each fraction the greatest common divisor is divided out to remove the possibility that converting the test ''N times fraction'' being integral via ''fraction = P/Q'' to ''Q divides N'' will behave differently. For example, N*6/3 will always be integral, but N may not be divisible by three. Reducing 6/3 to 2/1 however will work as will reducing 55/25 to 11/5. The example contains no such occasions, but the possibility nags.

For output, the value of N will not be shown multiplied out but via a schedule showing the powers of the first few prime numbers that form its factorisation. Rather than staring in puzzlement at opaque monster strings of digits, one can view each separate prime factor's power counting up and down as the calculation proceeds. A simple scan of all the factorisations soon determines the highest prime employed, and this never changes.

For output, the value of N will not be shown multiplied out but via a schedule showing the powers of the first few prime numbers that form its factorisation. Rather than staring in puzzlement at opaque monster strings of digits, one can view each separate prime factor's power counting up and down as the calculation proceeds. A simple scan of all the factorisations soon determines the highest prime employed, and this never changes. An extension of this checks for which primes are omitted, and in this example, none are. However, a further extension modifies the output of the schedule of powers so as to blank out those that are zero. This could be achieved by replacing the likes of <code>WRITE (...) NPPOW</code> by <code>WRITE (...) I6FMT(NPPOW)</code> where function I6FMT writes out its integer with <code>I6</code> format if the value is positive, and supplies six spaces if not, were it not that few Fortran systems allow such re-entrant usage of the system for formatted output. So, prepare the output with a straightforward WRITE to a CHARACTER variable, blank out the portions where unwanted values appear, and write the result.

===Revised Code===