GRADE VI

DIFFERENTIATING TERMINATING AND REPEATING

DECIMALS

Objective: Differentiate between terminating and repeating from non-terminating

decimals.

REVIEW

Find the quotients of the following:

1) 735  7 = ____
2) 468  6 = ____
3) 168  3 = ____
4) 4 968  9 = ____
5) 4 564  4 = ____

STUDY AND LEARN

Sometimes, you need to write a fraction as a decimal. Writing fractions whose

denominators are powers of 10 is easy. But what if the denominators of the fractions are
1 1
not powers of 10, such as , and others. How do you change them into decimals?
3 4

1
Read and study this problem.

The baseball team won 3 games out of 4 games, giving them a winning average
3
of . Write the average as a decimal.
4

You can change the fraction into decimal by division. Observe how it is done.

3
= 34 = 4 3
4

0.75  3
Steps:
4 3.00 4
1. Divide: 3  4. Since you cannot get 4 from 3, put a
28 decimal point and annex one zero in the dividend.
20 2. Divide: 30  4. The quotient is 7.
Multiply: 7 x 4 = 28
20 Subtract: 30 – 28 = 2. The remainder is not yet zero so
0 add another zero in the dividend.
3. Divide: 20  4 = 5
Multiply: 5 x 4 = 20
Subtract: 20 – 20 = 0.
4. Since the remainder is already 0, we do not need to add
another zero in the dividend.
3
5. Therefore, = 0.75
4

Let’s have other examples. See how the following fractions are changed to decimals.

1 0.5 5 0.625 1 0.25

= 2 1.0 = 8 5.000 = 4 1.00
2 8 4
10 48 -8
0 20 20
16 - 20
40 0
40
0

2
What is the remainder in the examples above? (Zero)
Do you still need another numeral in the quotient? (No)

You observed that the fractions given were changed into decimals by dividing the
numerator by the denominator. The division is made possible by annexing zeros to the
right of the dividend. The division process also ends because the remainders are all zeros,
so the decimal quotients are called terminating decimals.

Sometimes in changing a common fraction to a decimal, the division never ends.

Study the following examples:

1 3
a) b) 4 The digits in the
3 The remainder is 11 quotient repeat
always 1. The
every 2 decimal
decimal repeats.
places.
1 0.33 3 0.2727
= 3 1.00 = 11 3.0000
3 11
-9 -22
10 80
- 9 - 77
1 30
- 22
80
- 77
3
1 3
= 0 .33 4 = 4 .2727
3 11
The bar shows that The bar shows that
the digit 3 repeats. the digits 27 are repeated.

What do you observe with the quotient? (The digits in the quotient are repeating.)

What is put on top of the digit in the quotient? (Bar (-)

What does the bar (-) mean? It means that the digits under the bar constitute a
block.

How about the remainder? The remainder is not zero and it also repeats.

3
 In the given examples above, notice that no matter how many zeros (0’s) we put
in the dividend and keep on dividing, there would always be a remainder.

So, if the division produces a repeating pattern of nonzero remainders, then the
decimal is called a non-terminating but repeating decimal.

Test yourself with the skills you have learned by answering the next activities.

TRY THESE

Write each fraction or mixed number as a decimal. Tell whether the decimal is
terminating or repeating. Do this in your notebook.

3 5 7 4 5
1) 2) 3) 1 4) 3 5) 15
5 6 8 7 16

WRAP UP

You can change a fraction to an equivalent decimal by dividing the

numerator by the denominator.

A fraction written in decimal form that has a zero remainder is called

terminating decimal.

Fractions whose decimal forms do not terminate are called non-

terminating but repeating decimals. A bar ( -) is written over the block of
digit/s that repeats indefinitely.

ON YOUR OWN

4
Find an equivalent decimal. Tell whether the quotient is a terminating or a repeating
decimal.

2 7 5 7 4
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
3 20 6 8 9