DIFFERENT METHODS FOR CONVERTING

There are several methods that can be used to convert fractions to decimals:
Change the denominator to a power of 10 (like 10, 100, 1000 etc).
Divide the numerator by the denominator.
Memorise some common conversions.

TASK 1 Change the denominator to a power of 10

1 1 1
Decimals have place values of , , etc.
10 100 1000
Some denominators can be multiplied by a simple number to change them to 10, 100, 1000 etc.

Example 3 15
 (by multiplying the numerator and denominator by 5)
20 100
 0.15

Rewrite each fraction with a denominator of 10, 100, 1000, etc then write the fraction as a decimal.

9 31 7 1
20 50 500 25 000

TASK 2 Divide the numerator by the denominator

The fraction line means divide. You can use division to change fractions to decimals.
It is often easier to use your calculator for more difficult divisions.
Use division to convert these fractions to decimals:

15 19 123
= 15 ÷ 16
16 40 160
=

TASK 3 Memorise common conversions

Some common conversions are: 1 1 1 1

= 0.5 = 0.25 = 0.2 = 0.1
2 4 5 10
1 3
If = 0.2, then = 0.6 Use the common conversions above to find the decimals for these fractions:
5 5
3 4 1 1
= = Challenge: = Challenge: =
4 5 40 200
1 1
(Hint: This is 10 times smaller than 4 .) (Hint: This is 100 times smaller than 2 .)