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Fractions for Repeating Decimals


Date: 5/14/96 at 15:12:32
From: Anonymous
Subject: Fractions for repeating decimals

Question: Convert 3.04050505.... into a fraction.

Answer:  x = 3.04050505....

100x = 304.05050505...

Now what?


Date: 5/17/96 at 10:17:11
From: Doctor Ethan
Subject: Re: Fractions for repeating decimals

Hey,

  You're off to a great start.  Now all you need to do is subtract.

100x  =   304.05050505050505
 - x  =     3.04050505050505
------------------------------
 99x  =   301.01

Now we need to multiply both sides by 100

 9900x = 30101

So x = 30101/9900

and it is in the form of a fraction.

-Doctor Ethan,  The Math Forum
 Check out our web site!  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/

Associated Topics:
Elementary Fractions
Middle School Fractions

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