Fraction to decimal

Express seven over twenty as a decimal. A fraction line means divided by. Seven over twenty means seven divided by twenty. Try a denominator of ten or one hundred. This square has one hundred equal cells. Twenty does not go into ten a whole number of times. One hundred divided by twenty is five. There are twenty equal strips, with five cells in each strip. Multiply the top and the bottom by five. Seven strips give thirty five of the one hundred cells. Now write thirty five over one hundred as a decimal. To divide thirty five by one hundred, keep the decimal point fixed. One hundred has two zeros. One. Two. Move both digits one place to the right. Thirty five becomes three point five. Move both digits one more place to the right. That makes zero point three five. Write a zero in the ones place. Zero point three five.

Now try the other route. Express five over seven as a decimal. Correct your answer to two decimal places. Try it first. Pause if you like. Seven does not go into ten a whole number of times. Nor does seven go into one hundred a whole number of times. So divide five by seven. Work to three decimal places, one more than the question asks for. Five is less than seven. Write zero and the decimal point. Add zeros after the five. Seven into fifty goes seven. Seven times seven is forty nine. Fifty minus forty nine is one. Bring down a zero to make ten. Seven into ten goes one. One times seven is seven. Ten minus seven is three. Bring down the next zero to make thirty. Seven into thirty goes four. Four times seven is twenty eight. Thirty minus twenty eight is two. The decimal begins zero point seven one four. The third decimal digit is four. Four is less than five, so the second digit stays the same. The answer is zero point seven one, correct to two decimal places. To write a fraction as a decimal, make hundredths or divide. To correct to two decimal places, look at the digit in the third decimal place.