Students will learn how to convert fractions to decimals, either terminating or repeating, whatever the case may be. They'll start by converting fractions to terminating decimals, as seen here. Then students will convert fractions to repeating decimals. Certain fractions, some terminating and some repeating, can be converted mentally. At least, students should be able to mentally convert any fraction of the form \(x/2,\) \(x/3,\) \(x/4,\) \(x/5,\) or \(x/10^n,\) where \(x\) and \(n\) are fixed whole numbers. For fractions of the form \(x/10^n,\) students can start by moving the decimal on paper, as seen here. Once they're comfortable with moving the decimal on paper, they should be able to do this mentally. Then students should practice mentally converting fractions to decimals, when it's easy to convert the denominator to a power of 10. For example, \(19/5 = 38/10 = 3.8.\)
Next, give your students these challenges:
- A Repeating Decimal Equation by blackpenredpen
- The Hare and the Tortoise by NRICH
- Money Bags by NRICH
Conclude by leading this investigation:
Area and Perimeter of Polyanimals
by MathPickle