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Every terminating decimal representation can be written as a decimal fraction, a fraction whose denominator is a power of 10 (e.g. 1.585 = 1585 / 1000 ); it may also be written as a ratio of the form k / 2 n ·5 m (e.g. 1.585 = 317 / 2 3 ·5 2 ).
Also the converse is true: The decimal expansion of a rational number is either finite, or endlessly repeating. Finite decimal representations can also be seen as a special case of infinite repeating decimal representations. For example, 36 ⁄ 25 = 1.44 = 1.4400000...; the endlessly repeated sequence is the one-digit sequence "0".
Decimals may sometimes be identified by a decimal separator (usually "." or "," as in 25.9703 or 3,1415). [3] Decimal may also refer specifically to the digits after the decimal separator, such as in "3.14 is the approximation of π to two decimals". Zero-digits after a decimal separator serve the purpose of signifying the precision of a value.
For example, in the decimal system (base 10), the numeral 4327 means (4×10 3) + (3×10 2) + (2×10 1) + (7×10 0), noting that 10 0 = 1. In general, if b is the base, one writes a number in the numeral system of base b by expressing it in the form a n b n + a n − 1 b n − 1 + a n − 2 b n − 2 + ... + a 0 b 0 and writing the enumerated ...
In decimal numbers greater than 1 (such as 3.75), the fractional part of the number is expressed by the digits to the right of the separator (with a value of 0.75 in this case). 3.75 can be written either as an improper fraction, 375 / 100 , or as a mixed number, 3 + 75 / 100 .
Any such symbol can be called a decimal mark, decimal marker, or decimal sign. Symbol-specific names are also used; decimal point and decimal comma refer to a dot (either baseline or middle ) and comma respectively, when it is used as a decimal separator; these are the usual terms used in English, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] with the aforementioned ...
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A real number can be expressed by a finite number of decimal digits only if it is rational and its fractional part has a denominator whose prime factors are 2 or 5 or both, because these are the prime factors of 10, the base of the decimal system. Thus, for example, one half is 0.5, one fifth is 0.2, one-tenth is 0.1, and one fiftieth is 0.02.