# The &kbruch; Handbook

## Introduction

&kbruch; is a small program to generate tasks with fractions. The user has to solve the given task by entering the right value for numerator and denominator. The program checks the input and gives feedback.

The task generation can be adjusted by using different parameters. The user can decide if he wants to solve tasks with addition/subtraction and/or multiplication/division.

It is possible to enter the number of ratios and the maximum for the main denominator.

&kbruch; is very compact and focuses on the core idea of a task generator. An online help system provides context-sensitive help for the different situations.

&kbruch; provides a text interface as well. This means you can use &kbruch; without starting the &X-Window;. To do this you use the `-t` command line option.

It is free and licensed under the &GNU; Public License.

## Using &kbruch;

### Main screen

Here is a screenshot of &kbruch;'s main screen:

&kbruch; main screen, directly after the start &kbruch; main screen

All action takes place in this screen. This ensures that &kbruch; is easy to use even for young users! The main screen is separated into 4 parts:

- the menu bar with the 2 menus Task and Help

- the toolbar, where you can set the difficulty of the generated tasks

- the statistical part, where you can see how many tasks have been solved correctly or attempted

- the task part, where you have to enter the result of the given task

### Task Parameters

There are 3 parameters which influence the difficulty of the generated tasks:

Terms

- The number of terms (separate fractions) given in each task. From 2 to 5, inclusive.

Max. main denominator

- The highest number &kbruch; will use as the main denominator in the tasks it sets. From a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 50.

Operations

- Operations which should be used in the task: Addition/Subtraction, Multiplication/Division or All Operations Mixed.

After you have changed the parameters you have to click on the New Task button in the toolbar to generate a task which uses the new parameters. You can also call this action from the menu bar with Task New Task.

Your selection of the maximum main denominator will be reset to a default value every time you change the number of terms. So you should change the number of terms first and then select the maximum main denominator.

If you have not solved the current task and call the New Task action, the task will be counted as not solved correctly. To prevent this you have to change the parameters after you solved the task but before generating a new one.

The chosen parameters will be saved on &kbruch;'s termination and restored on next startup.

### Solving Tasks

After you have solved a given task, you need to enter the result into the two input boxes. In the upper box you enter the numerator and in the lower box the denominator.

If the result is negative, you can enter a minus sign in front of the numerator or denominator. If the result is 0, you can leave both boxes empty. If the result has a denominator of 1, you can leave the lower box empty.

After you have entered the result you should click the Check Task button below the input boxes. &kbruch; will check your input and present the correct result. Therefore the main screen changes a little, as you can see in the screenshot:

Checked Task Checked Task

This task was solved correctly. The correct value is shown in 2 different forms. The second form just in front of the word CORRECT is only used in some countries and must be read as 4 + 1/4 in the given case.

You always have to enter the result reduced, because most teachers only give all points to reduced results. &kbruch; will show you a short message like the one in the screenshot below, if you enter the correct result unreduced.

Unreduced Result Unreduced Result

To continue with the next task, click on the Next Task button. If you want to change the parameters for the next task please do this before clicking on the Next Task button.

### Statistical Part

In this part of the main screen you can see:

- how many tasks have been solved

- how many tasks have been solved correctly

- how many tasks have been solved incorrectly

You can reset the statistics by clicking on the Reset button under the figures.

The statistics will be saved on &kbruch;'s termination and restored on next startup.

## The Text Interface and Generator Mode

&kbruch; offers a text interface as well. You can start this interface directly from a shell:

``kbruch` `-t``

or

``kbruch` `--text``

Main Menu Main Menu

If you are a teacher you may be interested to generate a lot of complicated tasks. For this purpose &kbruch; provides a generator mode. You can only call it from a command line:

``kbruch` `-g``

or

``kbruch` `--generate``

Generator Mode Generator Mode

As shown in the screenshot, you can stop the generator mode by pressing &Ctrl;C. It is not possible to influence the task generator. You cannot set parameters like the number of terms, maximum main denominator size or which operations should be used.

## Credits and License

&kbruch;

Program and documentation Copyright, 2001-2003 Sebastian Stein kbruch@hpfsc.de

Thank you goes to:

- Anne-Marie Mahfouf for managing the &kde; Edu project

- Eva Brucherseifer for writing KMath (&kbruch;'s GUI is based on this work)

- Dominique Devriese for bug fixing

- Stefan Schumacher for testing a very early version

- Sven Guckes for testing the text interface

- David Faure for helping with &kde; CVS and &kde; Bugzilla

- Robert Gogolok for helping with &kde; CVS

- John Kesson for proof reading the handbook

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

### How to obtain &kbruch;

&install.intro.documentation;

### Requirements

In order to successfully use &kbruch;, you need &kde; > 3.1 .

&kbruch; itself can be found on the &kbruch; home page and it is part of the &kde; Edu project

You can find a list of changes in the file ChangeLog in the distribution of &kbruch; or see the CVS commit messages.

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;
&documentation.index;