That's a very nice and simple argument.

On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 7:23 AM, John Randall
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> John Randall wrote:
>
>> ITEM 54 (Salamin & Gosper):
>> The probability that a random rational number has an even denominator is
>> 1/3.
>>
>
> One more argument, possibly what was intended.
>
> Let p and q be random positive integers.  Write them in binary, and
> remove common trailing zeros.  The possibilities on the last bit are
> now 1/1, 0/1, 1/0, and only the last case gives an even denominator
> for the reduced fraction p/q.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> John
>
>
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