Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics · Syllabus 0580 · Number
Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
What is Fractions, Decimals and Percentages?
Three interchangeable ways of writing the same rational quantity: a fraction as a ratio of two integers, a decimal as a place-value expansion, and a percentage as a number of hundredths. Every rational number has a terminating or recurring decimal expansion, and every terminating or recurring decimal can be converted back to an exact fraction.
This definition is part of the Number chapter in Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics.
Fractions, Decimals and Percentages in context
Fractions, decimals and percentages are one number wearing three coats. Choose the coat that suits the job: fractions for exact work and cancelling, decimals for ordering and calculator entry, percentages for comparison and change. The conversions themselves are only three operations — divide, use place value, and multiply or divide by 100 — and every one of them is reversible.