Find the fraction that creates a repeating decimal that repeats certain digits Is there any way to

Roland Waters

Roland Waters

Answered question

2022-06-25

Find the fraction that creates a repeating decimal that repeats certain digits
Is there any way to find the fraction x / y that, when converted to a decimal, repeats a series of digits z? For example: x / y = z . z z z z z z z z . . . or with actual numbers, x / y = 234.234234234... (z is 234) If this is impossible, is there a way that does the same but the value to the left of the decimal is not z?

Answer & Explanation

Marlee Norman

Marlee Norman

Beginner2022-06-26Added 18 answers

There's a nice fact (derived from the expression demonstrated by TonyK): The repeating decimal 0. z z z can be represented by
z 10 l ( z ) 1
where l ( z ) here denotes the number of digits of z.
Now if we want instead z . z z z all we have to do is multiply the above expression by 10 l ( z ) (or as Joffan points out - simply add z), getting
10 l ( z ) z 10 l ( z ) 1
Ezekiel Yoder

Ezekiel Yoder

Beginner2022-06-27Added 3 answers

Here is a way that does not involve yet another formula for students (or you) to memorize. (I am not against formulas; I just realize that many people are.)
The idea is to multiply the number by a power of ten that gets the same repeating pattern, then subtract. For your example,
u = 234.234 1000 u = 234234.234 999 u = 234.234 234234.234 = 234000 u = 234000 999 = 26000 111

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