Write 5/6 as a decimal

Step by step

The question

Question: write 5/6 as a decimal.

1 Divide

The bottom 6 does not go into 10, 100 or 1000.

So we divide: 5 ÷ 6, one digit at a time.

5 ÷ 6 is 0, with 5 left.

So we write 0 and the point.

We put a 0 next to the 5 left: 50.

50 ÷ 6 is 8, with 2 left.

We put a 0 next to the 2 left: 20.

20 ÷ 6 is 3, with 2 left.

2 left again: the same as before.

So the digits repeat for ever.

So 5/6 is 0.8333…, and the 3 repeats for ever.

A repeating decimal never ends.

So we cannot multiply it back exactly.

The same leftover coming back is our check.