Doggone decimal getting you down?

Have you ever needed to multiply two numbers and one of them contained a decimal?  Without a calculator in hand, what was your immediate response? Did you panic? 😬

I have great news! 😀 There is hope for everyone!  Know that our number system is based on a power of 10, and learn a few quick tricks, and you'll never panic again! 👍🏼

Let's take a look at an example, and learn about this nifty trick.

There are 10 children in the Schmidt family, and they have just received news that each of them will receive 1/10 of their grandmother's estate worth $445,000.  What is the value of each child's inheritance?

Solution:

Step 1: Convert 1/10 to a decimal, which is 0.1

Step 2: Multiply $445,000 x 1.  (That is not a typo.  Multiply it times 1.)

Step 3: Apply the decimal to your calculation.  You need to move the place value 1 position to the left only 1 place, since we are multiplying times 0.1.  

The answer is $445,000 x 0.1 which is $44,500.  

Each child will receive $44,500.

We'll look at a few more examples in upcoming posts.  Don't forget to share this tip with a friend!  👌🏼