# What is 1/4 as a decimal?

## a) The long division

The long division method involved the division of the numerator by the denominator. The numerator is the number at the top of the fraction and the denominator is the number at the bottom of the fraction.

Let us do the division  $$1\div4$$.

Hence the decimal form of the fraction $$\frac14$$ is 0.25.

## b) The equivalent fraction.

The equivalent fraction is the way of representing a fraction in the form of their multiples. All the equivalent fractions of a fraction simplify to the same fraction.

The equivalent fraction of a fraction can be formed by multiplying the numerator and the denominator by the same number.

Example:

$$\frac23=\frac{2\times4}{3\times4}=\frac8{12}$$

Convert the fraction $$\frac14$$ to equivalent fraction with the denominator 100

$$\frac14=\frac{1\times25}{4\times25}=\frac{25}{100}$$

Here it can be observed that 25 is the number that has to be multiplied to the denominator to make it 100. Since for an equivalent fraction the numerator should be multiplied by the same number as the denominator, we can multiply 1 with 25.

The rule to convert such fractions to decimals is

• Count the number of zeros in the denominator.
• Move the decimal point of the numerator as many places to the left.
• Here we have 2 zeros, so the decimal is to be moved to the left by 2 places.

$$\frac{25}{100}=0.25$$

We get the same answer as the previous method.

## Remember

Here are some common terms you should be familiar with.

• In the fraction  $$\frac14$$, the number 1 is the dividend (our numerator)
• The number 4 is our divisor (our denominator)

We invite you to read other articles on decimal and fraction, on our blog, to find out how converting decimal to fraction.

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