5/12 as a decimal

12 does not go exactly into 10, 100 or 1,000, so there is no equivalent fraction in tenths or hundredths to use. Divide the top by the bottom instead, with short division:

1. 12 does not go into 5, so write 0 and a decimal point, then carry the 5 over as 50 tenths.
2. 12 goes into 50 4 times, remainder 2. Write 4, and carry the 2 to make 20.
3. 12 goes into 20 once, remainder 8. Write 1, and carry the 8 to make 80.
4. 12 goes into 80 6 times, remainder 8. Write 6, and carry the 8 to make 80.
5. The remainder 8 has come up before, so the same digits come round again and again: the 6 repeats for ever.

To round to 2 decimal places, look at the third digit after the point. It is 6, which is 5 or more, so round up: 0.41666... is 0.42 to 2 decimal places.

You cannot write every digit of 0.416, where the 6 repeats for ever0.416, so there are two short ways to show that it goes on for ever. One is three dots: 0.41666.... The other, used in school books and 11+ papers, is a dot over the repeating digit: 0.416, where the 6 repeats for ever0.416.

In an 11+ answer, give the rounded decimal the question asks for. To 2 decimal places, 5/12 is 0.42; to 1 decimal place, it is 0.4.

A twelfth is half of a sixth, so 1/12 = 0.08333.... The only twelfths in lowest terms are 1/12, 5/12, 7/12 and 11/12; the others simplify to sixths, quarters, thirds or a half.

5/12 sits between 1/3 (0.333...) and 1/2 (0.5). It is exactly halfway between them.