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Decimal fraction

A decimal fraction is a rational number that may be expressed as a fraction, the denominator of which is a power of ten.

 


Explanation

Usually you don't write a fraction then but a sequence of digits after the decimal point, as in

or also

 


History

In 1585, the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin described arithmetic with decimal fractions. Behind each digit came in a circle the (negative) power of 10 that applied to that digit. The number 18.4615 was written as


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