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A repeating decimal or recurring decimal is a decimal representation of a number whose digits are eventually periodic (that is, after some place, the same sequence of digits is repeated forever); if this sequence consists only of zeros (that is if there is only a finite number of nonzero digits), the decimal is said to be terminating, and is not considered as repeating.
For example, to change 1 / 4 to a decimal expression, divide 1 by 4 (" 4 into 1 "), to obtain exactly 0.25. To change 1 / 3 to a decimal expression, divide 1... by 3 (" 3 into 1... "), and stop when the desired precision is obtained, e.g., at four places after the decimal separator (ten-thousandths) as 0.3333.
Decimal odds are favoured by betting exchanges because they are the easiest to work with for trading, as they reflect the reciprocal of the probability of an outcome. [13] For example, a quoted odds of 5.00 equals to a probability of 1 / 5.00, that is 0.20 or 20%. Decimal odds are also known as European odds, digital odds or continental odds. [9]
Fractions such as 1 ⁄ 3 are displayed as decimal approximations, for example rounded to 0.33333333. Also, some fractions (such as 1 ⁄ 7, which is 0.14285714285714; to 14 significant figures) can be difficult to recognize in decimal form; as a result, many scientific calculators are able to work in vulgar fractions or mixed numbers.
The user may estimate the location of the decimal point in the result by mentally interpolating between labeled graduations. Scientific notation is used to track the decimal point for more precise calculations. Addition and subtraction steps in a calculation are generally done mentally or on paper, not on the slide rule.
With decimal arithmetic, final digits of 0 and 5 are avoided; if there is a choice between numbers with the least significant digit 0 or 1, 4 or 5, 5 or 6, 9 or 0, then the digit different from 0 or 5 shall be selected; otherwise, the choice is arbitrary. IBM defines that, in the latter case, a digit with the smaller magnitude shall be selected ...
As an illustration, the decimal quantity 12.345 can be expressed with various numbers of significant figures or decimal places. If insufficient precision is available then the number is rounded in some manner to fit the available precision. The following table shows the results for various total precision at two rounding ways (N/A stands for ...
He also gave two other approximations of π: π ≈ 22 ⁄ 7 and π ≈ 355 ⁄ 113, which are not as accurate as his decimal result. The latter fraction is the best possible rational approximation of π using fewer than five decimal digits in the numerator and denominator. Zu Chongzhi's results surpass the accuracy reached in Hellenistic ...