Decimals and Fractions

Read this text and complete the practice problems. Be sure to check your answers.

Convert Fractions to Decimals

In Decimals, we learned to convert decimals to fractions. Now we will do the reverse-convert fractions to decimals. Remember that the fraction bar indicates division. So $\frac{4}{5}$ can be written $4 \div 5$ or $5 \overline{)4}$ . This means that we can convert a fraction to a decimal by treating it as a division problem.

CONVERT A FRACTION TO A DECIMAL

To convert a fraction to a decimal, divide the numerator of the fraction by the denominator of the fraction.

EXAMPLE 5.28

Write the fraction $\frac{3}{4}$ as a decimal.

Solution

A fraction bar means division, so we can write the fraction $\frac{3}{4}$ using division.
Divide.
	So the fraction $\frac{3}{4}$ is equal to $0.75$ .

EXAMPLE 5.29

Write the fraction

$-\frac{7}{2}$ as a decimal.

Solution

The value of this fraction is negative. After dividing, the value of the decimal will be negative. We do the division ignoring the sign, and then write the negative sign in the answer.	$-\frac{7}{2}$
Divide $7$ by $2$ .
	So, $-\frac{7}{2}=-3.5 \text {. }$

Source: Rice University, https://openstax.org/books/prealgebra/pages/5-3-decimals-and-fractions
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