Dividing Decimals: How and Why
We have looked at how we add, subtract, and multiply decimals. Now we’ll conclude with division: what we do, why we do it, and how we don’t really need to do it that way.
Decimals
Multiplying Decimals: How and Why
We’ve looked at how to add or subtract decimals. Now let’s move on to multiplication; we’ll look at three answers to the same sort of question.
Adding or Subtracting Decimals: How and Why
Recently a teacher (Hi, Edite!) asked for help teaching how to divide decimals; in particular, she wanted to be able to provide a deeper understanding of the process, giving a good reason for what we do. Here I want to start a long-delayed series on operations with decimals, doing exactly this for all four basic …
Multiplying Fractions and Decimals
(A new question of the week) Let’s look at a quick question from mid-September, that had a number of different answers. In some ways, this is an easy question; but we’ll take it a little further, so keep reading to the end.
Decimals, Commas, Thousands, and Lakhs
I’ll finish this series on place value and writing numbers, with a question that’s not quite as simple as you might think: why we use commas and decimal points as we do. Americans may be surprised at some of the answers – and some of the questions.
Decimals in Word Form: Subtleties
Last time we looked at how to convert a number between decimal and word form. Now we’ll move into some tricky cases such as where to use “and” or a hyphen, to eliminate ambiguity.
Decimals in Word Form: Basics
We’ve been looking at the place value concept, and writing number in expanded form(s); but how about the word form of decimals? This can be confusing at several points. We’ll start with reading a number and writing its word form, and then do the reverse.
Should We Put Zero Before a Decimal Point?
(An archive question of the week) Last time we ended with questions about writing (or ignoring) zeros at the end of a decimal. I didn’t have room for one more question, so I’ll put it here.
Place Value: Decimals
Last time we looked at the concept of place value as children first learn it, with whole numbers. Here, we’ll expand that to look at decimals.
Fractions vs. Decimals: Pros and Cons
Last time, we looked at what fractions are, and saw that fractions and decimals are two different ways to handle numbers less than 1 (or between integers). Here, we’ll look at several questions about why we need both forms, and whether one is better than the other. The comparison and contrast turns out to be …