Question

.425 into simplest form.

Answer 1

If a decimal number terminates (in other words, the digits don't go on forever), express the decimal number as a common fraction with a power of ten as the denominator.  Then reduce the fraction tolowest terms .

Since we need to put our number over a power of ten, we need to know what the various places after the decimal point mean.



Example:

Express 0.4250.425 as a fraction in lowest terms.

Since there are 33 digits in 425425 , the very last digit is the 10001000 th place. 

So, 0.4250.425 is read 425425 thousandths.

It is written 42510004251000 . It is now in fraction form but not reduced to lowest terms.

425425 and 10001000 have a common factor of 2525, so we have to divide both the numerator and the denominator by 2525 to reduce the fraction.

4251000÷2525=17404251000÷2525=1740 .   Now the fraction is in lowest terms.