Question

How do you write 12/8 as a decimal?

Answer 1

`12/8 = 1.5`

Explanation:

You can do this by just dividing: `12 div 8 = 1.5`

You could also use fractions and equivalent fractions to find the decimal.

`12/8 = 1 4/8 = 1 1/2`

Make the denominator into a power of 10.

`1 1/2 = 1 5/10 = 1.5`

Using a different denominator:

`12/8 xx 125/125 = 1500/1000 = 15/10 = 1.5`

Answer 2

`12/8=1.5`

Explanation:

To convert a fraction into decimal, we should first reduce to its lowest term

As such `12/8=(3xx4)/(2xx4)=(3xxcancel4)/(2xxcancel4)=3/2`

In second step check the prime factors of denominator - whether they comprise of `2s` and `5s` or there are some other prime factors too.

If denominator has just, say `m` `2s` and `n` `5s`, multiplying numerator and denominator with `m` `5s` and `n` `2s` will make denominator a power of `10` and then easy to convert it to decimal fraction.

Here as the denominator is just `2`, we multiply numerator and denominator by `5` and we get

`3/2=(3xx5)/(2xx5)=15/10=1.5`

Note: if we have prime factors of denominator other than two and `5`, we will have to carry out long division and result will be a repeating decimal.