How do you convert #3/8# to a decimal?

1 Answer
Jul 1, 2016

#3/8 = 0.375#

Explanation:

There are 2 ways to convert fractions to decimals.

Make an equivalent fraction with a power of 10 as the denominator.

This can only be done with denominators such as:
2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 25, 40, 50 etc., which are factors of #10, 100, 1,000, 10,000# and so on.

but not with denominators which are multiples of 3, 7, 11 etc.

#(3color(blue)(xx125))/(8color(blue)(xx125)) = 375/1000 = 0.375#

Or divide 3.0000 by 8

#" "0.3 7 5#
8 ) #bar(3.0^6 0^4 0) #