A fraction is written in terms of two parts: the number on top is called the numerator and the number on the bottom is called the denominator. We can use the division method to solve this question. To get a decimal, simply divide the numerator 86 by the denominator 100:
86 (numerator) ÷ 100 (denominator) = 0.86
As a result, you get 0.86 as your answer when you convert 86/100 to a decimal.
Sometimes, dividing a number by a power of 10 (like 10, 100, 1000 etc.) is easy because all you need to do is move the invisible decimal place left by how many zeros you have in the power of 10. But for this question, the denominator, 100, isn’t a power of 10.
However, we can change the fraction: 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 the fraction into one that is easy to calculate.
To do this, we need to make the denominator to a power of 10 - to make 100 a power of 10, we need to multiply by 1 (100 * 1 = 100). We multiplied the denominator by 1, so now we need to also multiply the numerator by 1 too:
And finally, you get 0.86 as your answer when you convert 86/100 to a decimal.
All it takes to be better at something is some practice! Take a look at some more similar problems on converting fractions to decimals and give them a go:
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One thing we teach our students at Thinkster is that there are multiple ways to solve a math problem. This helps our students learn to think flexibly and non-linearly.
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