Question

How do you write \[18 \div 72\] as a decimal?

Answer 1

Hint: To write \[18 \div 72\] as a decimal you have to divide the numerator by the denominator of the given fraction. Here I will show how to write \[18 \div 72\] to a decimal.

Complete step by step solution:
The \[18\] above the bar or line is called the Numerator of the fraction. And the \[72\] which is below the line or bar is called the Denominator of the fraction.
To convert \[18/72\] so that you can write it as decimal, we need to simply divided the numerator of the fraction by the denominator of the fraction, like this,
 \[ = 18 \div 72\]
This question will be easy to solve if we are good with basic maths tables. Because we will know which number can cancel in with which number. Even if we don’t know the tables it’s not a problem, we can try by cancelling with basic numbers.
First we divide both the numerator of the fraction and denominator of the fraction by two,
 \[ = \dfrac{{18 \div 2}}{{72 \div 2}}\]
By simplifying,
 \[ = \dfrac{9}{{36}}\]
Then we divide both the numerator of the fraction and denominator of the fraction by three,
 \[ = \dfrac{{9 \div 3}}{{36 \div 3}}\]
By simplifying,
 \[ = \dfrac{3}{{12}}\]
Then we divide both the numerator of the fraction and denominator of the fraction by three,
 \[ = \dfrac{{3 \div 3}}{{12 \div 3}}\]
By simplifying,
 \[ = \dfrac{1}{4}\]
 \[ = 0.25\]
In this case if you observe, we have to divide the fraction using smaller numbers multiple times until the fraction has reached its simplest form. Now if we just known \[18\] table, then we would have just known that numerator of the fraction by denominator of the fraction just results \[ = \dfrac{1}{4}\] which intern gives \[ = 0.25\]
So, the correct answer is “0.25”.

Note: In algebra, a decimal number can be defined as a number whose whole number part and the fractional part is separated by a decimal point. The dot in a decimal number is called a decimal point. The digits following the decimal point show a value smaller than one.