What is 1/8 as a decimal?

1/8 as a decimal is 0.125

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Practice

Solution

Observe the fraction and compare the denominators.

The given fraction is converted to its equivalent fraction before being changed to the decimal form.

Equivalent fractions are the fractions made of factors of the numerator and the denominator. The equivalent fractions are fractions that have different numerator and denominator values but simplify to the same fraction.

To find the equivalent fraction of a given fraction, any non-zero number can be multiplied by the numerator and the denominator to get an equivalent fraction.

The concept of the equivalent fraction is also used to change the fractions to their decimal form.

Here the denominator 8 is converted to 1000 in its equivalent fraction.

Find the value that when multiplied to 8 gives 1000. We can see that 125 is multiplied to 8 to get 1000. As the same number that is multiplied by the denominator should be multiplied by the numerator, multiply 1 by 125.

$$\frac{\mathbf1\boldsymbol\times\mathbf{125}}{\mathbf8\boldsymbol\times\mathbf{125}}\boldsymbol=\frac{\mathbf{125}}{\mathbf{1000}}$$

If a fraction has a denominator that can be converted to values like 10, 100, 1000, and so on, we can directly convert them to the corresponding decimal.

$$\frac{\mathbf{125}}{\mathbf{1000}}\boldsymbol=\mathbf0\boldsymbol.\mathbf{125}$$
As there are three zeros in the denominator, move the decimal point 3 digits to the left to write the answer.

Remember

Here are some common terms you should be familiar with.

• In the fraction  $$\frac18$$, the number 1 is the dividend (our numerator)
• The number 8 is our divisor (our denominator). 

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

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