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Math Tutor Solution: 38 5/10 as a decimal is 38.5
Methods
First step – Making the fraction improper:
The first step to changing 38 5/10 into a decimal is to change it to an improper fraction. To do that, we need to multiply 38 by 10 and add its product to 5 in the numerator to get: 385/10. Now we will attempt to convert 385/10 to a decimal using one of the following methods:
Method 1 from a math tutor – Explanation using the division method:
Put in a nutshell, a fraction is written in terms of two parts separated by a line in between: the number above the line is called the numerator and the number below the line is called the denominator. To solve this question, we can use the division method to get a decimal: simply divide the numerator 385 by the denominator 10 to get the decimal:
385 (numerator) ÷ 10 (denominator) = 38.5
That’s it! When you convert 38 5/10 (or 385/10) to a decimal, 38.5 is your answer.
Method 2 from a math tutor – Explanation using the factors of 10 method:
Another method is to change the denominator to a power of 10 (like 10, 100, 1000 etc.). This way, the fraction will be coming simpler to compute.
Even if our denominator is not a power of 10, we can make it one. If the denominator is a factor of a power of 10, like 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 25, 40, 50 and so on, then we can convert them into a power of 10. Since our denominator is 10, we can convert it because it is a factor of a power of 10.
To do that, we multiply 10 by 1 to make the denominator 10. And since we multiplied the denominator by 1, we also need to multiply the numerator by 1 too:
Math Tutor Suggests: Master fraction to decimal conversions
All it takes to be better at something is some practice! Our math tutors suggest that you take a look at some more similar problems on converting fractions to decimals and give them a go:
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