9.3 Changing a fraction to a decimal

Again there are two ways to do this, both based on the two methods just shown for changing a fraction to a percentage.

Method 1

Example: Change the fraction into a percentage and divide by 100

one divided by four × 100 divided by one = 100 divided by four which cancels to 25 divided by one = 25%

Now convert to a decimal by dividing by 100:

  • 25 ÷ 100 = 0.25

Method 2

Example: Divide the top of the fraction by the bottom

one divided by four = 1 ÷ 4 = 0.25.

Figure 13 Expressed as a decimal: 1 ÷ 4

Activity 23: Changing a fraction to a decimal

Express these fractions as decimals:

  1. two divided by five

     

  2. one divided by eight

     

  3. three divided by 10

Answer

  1. 0.4

  2. 0.125

  3. 0.3

Fractions and percentages deal with splitting numbers into a given number of equal portions, or parts. When dealing with the next topic, ratio, you will still be splitting quantities into a given number of parts, but when sharing in a ratio, you do not share evenly. This might sound a little complicated but you’ll have been doing it since you were a child.

Summary

In this section you have:

  • learned about the relationship between fractions, decimals and percentages and are now able to convert between the three.

OpenLearn - Introduction and guidance
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