|
The long division of 2÷7 is more complicated. The remainder at the seventh step is 2, which is where the first step began. Because there will always be another 0 to “bring down” in the next place, the sequence of remainders (2, 6, 4, 5, 1, 3) will repeat, as will the digits 285714 in the quotient. Thus, a repeating decimal, where the horizontal bar is used to indicate which digits repeat.
The process of using long division to obtain the decimal representation of a fraction will always be like one of the above cases: Either the process will stop or it will cycle through some sequence of remainders. So the decimal representation of a rational number must be either a repeating or a terminating decimal. Thus a nonrepeating decimal cannot be a rational number and there are many such numbers, such as p and 
|
*
|
In the process of converting a fraction to a decimal, all remainders must be less than the denominator of the fraction. Because the list of possible remainders is finite, and because each subsequent step is always the same (brings down a 0, etc.), the remainders must eventually repeat. The fraction 2/7 had six remainders (the maximum) and repeated in six digits. Other examples: 1/11 repeats in two digits, 1/13 repeats in six digits, and 1/17 repeats in 16 digits.
|
|