Why the b > 2 condition? In the b=2 case, all three formulas also work perfectly, providing a ratio of 1. And this is interesting case where the error term is integer and the only case where that error term (1) is dominant (b-2=0), while the b-2 part dominates for larger bases.
In base 2 (and only base 2), denom(b) >= b-1, so the "fractional part" (b-1)/denom(b) carries into the 1's (units) place, which then carries into the 2's (b's) place, flipping both bits.
