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Most decimal fractions (or most fractions in general) cannot be represented exactly as a fraction with a denominator that is a power of two. For example, the simple decimal fraction 0.3 (3 ⁄ 10) might be represented as 5404319552844595 ⁄ 18014398509481984 (0.299999999999999988897769…). This inexactness causes many problems that are ...
A decimal separator is a symbol that separates the integer part from the fractional part of a number written in decimal form. Different countries officially designate different symbols for use as the separator. The choice of symbol can also affect the choice of symbol for the thousands separator used in digit grouping.
First, every nonzero number with a finite decimal notation (equivalently, endless trailing 0s) has a counterpart with trailing 9s. For example, 0.24999... equals 0.25, exactly as in the special case considered. These numbers are exactly the decimal fractions, and they are dense. [41] [9] Second, a comparable theorem applies in each radix (base).
Any such decimal fraction, i.e.: d n = 0 for n > N, may be converted to its equivalent infinite decimal expansion by replacing d N by d N − 1 and replacing all subsequent 0s by 9s (see 0.999...). In summary, every real number that is not a decimal fraction has a unique infinite decimal expansion.
The choice between fraction and decimal notation is often a matter of taste and context. Fractions are used most often when the denominator is relatively small. By mental calculation, it is easier to multiply 16 by 3 ⁄ 16 than to do the same calculation using the fraction
Continued fractions with more than 20 known terms have been truncated, with an ellipsis to show that they continue. Rational numbers have two continued fractions; the version in this list is the shorter one. Decimal representations are rounded or padded to 10 places if the values are known.
Also the converse is true: The decimal expansion of a rational number is either finite, or endlessly repeating. Finite decimal representations can also be seen as a special case of infinite repeating decimal representations. For example, 36 ⁄ 25 = 1.44 = 1.4400000...; the endlessly repeated sequence is the one-digit sequence "0".
These two representations are identical, unless x is a decimal fraction of the form . In this case, in the first decimal representation, all are zero for >, and, in the second representation, all 9. (see 0.999... for details).