Question

Question #bf6ab

Answer 1

There is tradition to transform an improper fraction into a mixed form.
Example:
`28/5=5 3/5`
But it's not compulsory. It all depends on the problem at hand.

Explanation:

Sometimes, it's more convenient to transform mixed fraction into improper form to perform intermediate calculations and then back to mixed fraction:
`(5 3/5) * (2 2/3) = 28/5 * 8/3 = (28*8)/(5*3)=224/15=14 14/15`

It's not compulsory to convert a fraction into decimal format, but sometimes is desirable (not always possible to do it exactly, some approximation might be used):
`2/3~=0.67`

What is usually done and encouraged is reducing the fraction into smallest numbers in denominator and numerator possible:
`24/16=3/2`
This latter transformation is practically always performed, so you can consider it compulsory.