Converting fractions to decimal
The conversion of fractions into decimals is necessary primarily for the convenience of perceiving numbers, because in some cases a person is inclined to read information in the form to which he is accustomed from the first acquaintance with mathematics.
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Differences between decimals and ordinary fractions
To begin with, let’s remember how they differ from each other.
An ordinary fraction is a fraction represented as a/b
The decimal fraction is represented by a number of digits that are located in a certain number before and after the dot, i.e. 0.5, 1.5, 10.33, -110.58, etc.
For example, an ordinary fraction 1/2, when converted to decimal, turns into a number 0.5.
It should be noted that in order to convert an ordinary fraction into a finite decimal, its denominator must necessarily be decomposed only into multipliers 2 and/or 5n times (1 is not taken into account as a multiplier); but if, in addition to these multipliers, others appear (for example, 3 or 4), such a fraction can no longer be called finite, because it becomes an infinite decimal.