The value of 3/8 considered as a decimal fraction is equal to 0.375. We can obtain this either by doing long division or multiplying both the numerator and denominator by 125 as explained below.
We now explain the two methods for how we can show that 3/8 is equal to 0.375.
Method 1 – Multiplying the numerator and denominator by 125
Notice that when we multiply the denominator 8 by 125 we get 1000 which is a multiple of 10.
If we have 1000 in the denominator then we can apply the rule of going back 3 decimal places in order to convert our fraction.
So we first multiply both the numerator and denominator by 125.
3/8 = (3 x 125)/(8 x 125).
3/8 = (375)/(1000).
Now we go back three decimal places since we have three zeroes in the denominator.
3/8 = 0.375.
Method 2 – Doing Long Division dividing 3 by 8
We carry out the complete long division of 3 by 8 as shown in the image below.
