Sometimes, you need to decide to write or say a number as a fraction or a decimal. We usually choose the most common method which is usually the easiest way to say something. Right now, it may seem to you that nothing is easy, so here are some tips.

Money

We almost always talk about a part of a dollar when talking about money,.

Example: Two dollars and fifteen cents is two whole dollars and fifteen parts of one more dollar.

$2.15 or [latex]\$2\tfrac{15}{100}[/latex] — which of these ways of writing money is more common or easier to you?

We usually write or talk about money in decimals:

• Example 1: $2.50 (two dollars and fifty cents) instead of [latex]\$2\tfrac{1}{2}[/latex] (two and a half dollars)
• Example 2: $0.50 (fifty cents) instead of [latex]\$\tfrac{1}{2}[/latex] (half a dollar)
• Example 3: $67.30 (sixty-seven dollars and thirty cents) instead of $67 (sixty-seven dollars and thirty-hundredths cents)

However, there is one place where we talk about money as a fraction: The quarter!

A quarter equals $0.25, but we often say, “It costs a quarter,” as much as we say, “It costs 25 cents.”

Really, if we were speaking correctly, it would be a quarter of a dollar, but it gets shortened. Also, we still write $0.25 or 25¢, not [latex]\$\tfrac{25}{100}[/latex] or [latex]\$\tfrac{1}{4}[/latex].

For Other Things: What Is Easiest

In most other ways of talking and writing, fractions and decimals are expressed in what seems easiest. This means that you get to say the number in the way you like best.

Example: Saying, “Six point four grams,” may be faster and easier than saying, “Six and two-fifths grams.”

But, saying [latex]\tfrac{3}{4}[/latex] of a tank of gas makes more sense than saying 0.75 of a tank of gas.

Attribution

This chapter has been adapted from Topic C: When to Use a Fraction or a Decimal in Adult Literacy Fundamental Mathematics: Book 5 – 2nd Edition (BCcampus) by Liz Girard, Wendy Tagami, and Leanne Caillier-Smith (2023), which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.