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When the answer (called the quotient) starts repeating, put a vertical line over the repeating part. For example, in 10/7 = 1.428571... the six digits after the decimal point repeat endlessly, so put a line over them. Likewise, 1/3 = 0.333..., so just put 0.3 with a line over the 3. The line over the repeated block is called an overline or vinculum. In complicated fractional quotients like 13/43, the repeating block can be HUGE (because both the dividend and divisor are prime numbers - in this case it's 0.302325581395348837209...). Keep dividing until the block repeats completely once, to be sure, and it can take a lot of long division before it does. All decimal (rational) fractions will either terminate in a fixed number of digits, or eventually resolve with a repeating block.

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13y ago

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