Decimals Help

Converting Decimals to Fractions

A decimal number is a fraction in disguise: and or . The number in front of the decimal point is the whole number (if there is one) and the number behind the decimal point is the numerator of a fraction whose denominator is a power of ten. The denominator will consist of 1 followed by one or more zeros. The number of zeros is the same as the number of digits behind the decimal point.

Terminating and Nonterminating Decimals

There are two types of decimal numbers, terminating and nonterminating . The above examples and practice problems are terminating decimal numbers. A nonterminating decimal number has infinitely many nonzero digits following the decimal point. For example, 0.333333333 … is a nonterminating decimal number. Some nonterminating decimal numbers represent fractions . But some nonterminating decimals, like π = 3.1415926654 … and , do not represent fractions. We will be concerned mostly with terminating decimal numbers in this book.

You can add as many zeros at the end of a terminating decimal number as you want because the extra zeros cancel away.

Decimals Practice Problems

Practice

Rewrite as a fraction. If the decimal number is more than 1, rewrite the number both as a mixed number and as an improper fraction.

1. 1.71 =

2. 34.598 =

3. 0.6 =

4. 0.289421 =

Solutions

Practice problems for this concept can be found at: Algebra Decimals Practice Test.