While you probably already know that both fractions and decimals represent a smaller value than one, these are actually two different tools that are very used in math. And while you may think that we could simply use one or the other, the reality is that both fractions and decimals have pros and cons.
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So, by understanding their pros and cons, you will be able to see the main differences between fractions vs decimals.
Fractions vs. Decimals: Pros And Cons
One of the main questions that many people have is why we need to know how to use both decimals and fractions if they both represent amounts less than one.
The main idea to keep in mind is that both fractions and decimals come a long way. While the Egyptians used fractions while all their fractions had 1 in the numerator, the Babylonians used something that looks like the decimals we work with today. In what concerns to the fractions as we know them, these have been used by the Greeks.
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Notice that when you are comparing fractions vs decimals, then it is important to understand that decimals are better than fractions when you need to do a lot of calculations, for example. After all, adding and multiplying decimals is as simple as adding and multiplying whole numbers. The only difference is that you also need to keep track of where the decimal point goes.
It is interesting to see that in designing calculators, computer languages, and even computers, we have chosen decimals over fractions. The truth is that either calculators or computers don’t understand fractions.
Notice that some more modern calculators already allow you to enter or display fractions. However, these same calculators tend to fail in some operations. For example, they don’t do roots and they also revert to their native language – decimals.
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While everything seems perfect when you are working with decimals, the reality is that they do pose a problem.
When you write 1/8 as a decimal, it’s 0.125 – it has more digits than 1/8. Multiplying 24 times 0.125 by hand takes more work than multiplying 24 by 1/8. This will happen with a lot of fractions. But this problem goes worse when you try to write 1/3 as a decimal, you get 0.333333333333333333333333333333333333… The point is that you simply can’t write the decimal correctly since it would go forever.
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So although decimals are more convenient in some ways, they are much bulkier and clumsier when you want precision.
For a long time, people preferred to work with fractions rather than decimals. That’s part of the reason for all the strange unit conversions we have: 1 quart is 1/4 gallon, 1 inch is 1/12 foot.
Decimals must have started gaining the upper hand by the time the metric system was developed, in the 1790s. With the advent of computers, decimals really took over. Fractions are not nearly as important now as they once were.
