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Math 6 · Mathematics
Numbers · Decimal numbers

Operations with Decimals

Ethan pays with a $\$50$ bill for a phone case that costs $\$12.45$ and a screen protector that costs $\$8.90$. How much change should the cashier give back? Decimals work almost like whole numbers. You just need to be extra careful with the decimal point.

Adding and Subtracting Decimals

Vertical addition of 12.45 and 8.90 with the decimal points lined up in one column, giving 21.35. 12.45 + 8.90 21.35 decimal points line up in one column

When a blank is missing, use the inverse operation. If $9.6 + \square = 14$, then $\square = 14 - 9.6 = 4.4$. If $\square - 2.5 = 6.1$, then $\square = 6.1 + 2.5 = 8.6$.

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In a phone accessories store, Ethan wants to buy a case that costs $\$12,45$ and a screen protector that costs $\$8,90$. If Ethan pays with a $\$50…

In a phone accessories store, Ethan wants to buy a case that costs $\$12,45$ and a screen protector that costs $\$8,90$. If Ethan pays with a $\$50$ bill, how much change will he be given at the register?

Solve
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Copy and complete the following equalities by placing the missing decimal number so that the operation is correct: a) $15,45 + \dots = 20$ b) $7,2 - \dots = 4,55$ c)…

Copy and complete the following equalities by placing the missing decimal number so that the operation is correct:

  1. a) $15,45 + \dots = 20$
  2. b) $7,2 - \dots = 4,55$
  3. c) $\dots \cdot 3 = 12,9$
Solve
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Three friends decide to have a snack together. They buy a pack of soft drinks for $\$4,85$, a family-size bag of chips that costs $\$2,30$, and a box of pastries for…

Three friends decide to have a snack together. They buy a pack of soft drinks for $\$4,85$, a family-size bag of chips that costs $\$2,30$, and a box of pastries for $\$5,45$. If they pay with a $\$20$ bill, how much money will they have left over to buy candy on the way out?

Solve

Multiplying Decimals

A 10 by 10 grid representing one whole. A block 0.3 wide and 0.4 tall is shaded, covering 12 of 100 squares, so 0.3 times 0.4 equals 0.12. 0.3 of the width 0.4 of the height 12 of 100 squares 0.3 × 0.4 = 0.12

The picture shows why multiplying tenths by tenths gives hundredths: $0.3 \times 0.4$ is $12$ out of $100$ squares.

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Calculate these operations mentally using powers of ten. Remember to move the decimal point to the correct side depending on whether you are multiplying or dividing: a)…

Calculate these operations mentally using powers of ten. Remember to move the decimal point to the correct side depending on whether you are multiplying or dividing:

  1. a) $34,57 \cdot 10$
  2. b) $0,23 \cdot 100$
  3. c) $458,2 : 10$
  4. d) $12,5 : 1000$
Solve
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Emma went to the grocery store and bought $2,5$ lb of apples at a price of $\$1,80…

Emma went to the grocery store and bought $2,5$ lb of apples at a price of $\$1,80$ per pound. When she gets home, she realizes that one of the apples is bad and decides to return it. If the apple weighed $0,25$ lb, how much money should Emma be refunded?

$1.80/lb Total bought 2.5 lb Returned apple 0.25 lb Refund ? $
Solve
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In a "Back to School" offer, a pack of $5$ notebooks costs $\$8,25$, whereas if you buy them individually, each one costs $\$1,80$. What is the total savings if we…

In a "Back to School" offer, a pack of $5$ notebooks costs $\$8,25$, whereas if you buy them individually, each one costs $\$1,80$.

What is the total savings if we decide to buy $15$ notebooks using the pack offer instead of buying them separately?

Solve

Dividing Decimals

The division 4.8 divided by 1.2 becomes 48 divided by 12 equals 4 after multiplying both numbers by 10. 4.8 ÷ 1.2 × 10 both numbers (the points disappear) 48 ÷ 12 = 4
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To make a cooking recipe, we need to divide a $1,5$ kg packet of flour into $6$ exactly equal portions to make cupcakes. How many kilograms of flour will each portion…

To make a cooking recipe, we need to divide a $1,5$ kg packet of flour into $6$ exactly equal portions to make cupcakes. How many kilograms of flour will each portion weigh? Express the result in grams as well.

Solve
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A group of $4$ friends goes to the movie theater. The total for the tickets and popcorn was $\$45,80…

A group of $4$ friends goes to the movie theater. The total for the tickets and popcorn was $\$45,80$. If they have decided to all pay the same amount, how much money must each one put in? If one of them only has a $\$10$ bill and a $\$2$ coin, will he have enough money?

Total: $45.80 Divided into 4 equal parts ? + ? + ? + ? $10 + $2 Available: $12,00
Solve
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A spool of filament for a 3D printer weighs exactly $1,25$ lb. If $0,015$ lb of plastic is used to make a small part, how many complete parts can be made with a single…

A spool of filament for a 3D printer weighs exactly $1,25$ lb. If $0,015$ lb of plastic is used to make a small part, how many complete parts can be made with a single spool? How much filament will be left over at the end?

1.25 lb Complete spool make parts 0.015 lb 1 part Total = 1.25 lb 1 2 3 ... n 0,015 n = ? r
Solve

Order of Operations with Decimals

The order of operations: first parentheses and brackets, then multiplication and division from left to right, then addition and subtraction from left to right. 1. Parentheses and brackets first 2. × and ÷, left to right 3. + and −, left to right

Decimals follow the same order of operations as whole numbers. Some people remember it as PEMDAS. Careful: multiplication and division share the same level, and so do addition and subtraction, so you work them from left to right. If there are nested groups, start with the innermost one.

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Carry out the following combined operations respecting the order of operations (parentheses, multiplications/divisions and finally additions/subtractions): a)…

Carry out the following combined operations respecting the order of operations (parentheses, multiplications/divisions and finally additions/subtractions):

  1. a) $4,5 + 2,1 \cdot 3$
  2. b) $(12,8 - 3,4) : 2$
  3. c) $5 \cdot 0,25 + 1,75$
Solve
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Calculate the result of the following combined operations respecting the order of operations: a) $12,5 + 3,8 \cdot (6,4 - 2,15)$ b) $(15,4 + 8,6) : 2,5 - 1,02 \cdot 4$

Calculate the result of the following combined operations respecting the order of operations:

  1. a) $12,5 + 3,8 \cdot (6,4 - 2,15)$
  1. b) $(15,4 + 8,6) : 2,5 - 1,02 \cdot 4$
Solve
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Calculate the result of the following combined operation, strictly respecting the order of operations and working with all the decimals obtained: $$15,4 + 2,5 \cdot…

Calculate the result of the following combined operation, strictly respecting the order of operations and working with all the decimals obtained:

$$15,4 + 2,5 \cdot [12,8 - (3,6 : 1,2 + 0,45)] - 0,075$$

Once the final result is obtained, approximate it by rounding to the hundredths and by truncating to the tenths.

Solve

Rounding, Truncating, and Money

Some answers never end: $10 \div 3 = 3.333\ldots$ You can't pay $3.333\ldots$ dollars, so you round.

For money, round to the nearest cent (two decimal places), and only at the end. Keep all the decimals while you calculate. Percents become decimals: $25\% = 0.25$, a quarter off means you pay $0.75$ of the price, and $7\%$ sales tax means you multiply by $0.07$.

When a bill can't be split exactly, someone covers the extra cent. For example, three friends split $\$10.00$: $10 \div 3 = 3.333\ldots$ If each pays $\$3.33$, the sum is $\$9.99$, one cent short. So one person pays $\$3.34$, and now the total is exactly $\$10.00$.

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In an electronics store, a video game costs $\$59,95…

In an electronics store, a video game costs $\$59,95$. During "Black Friday" week, they offer a discount of a quarter of its value. If a teenager decides to buy it and hands over a $\$50$ bill, calculate:

  1. a) The final price of the video game after applying the discount (round to the nearest cent if necessary).
  2. b) Will he have enough money? If he is short, state by how much. If he has money left over, state the exact change he will receive.
VIDEO GAME $59,95 INITIAL PRICE DISCOUNT: 1/4 1/4 3/4 DISC. TO PAY $59,95 TOTAL (4/4) PAYMENT $50 HANDS OVER Enough?
Solve
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Three friends want to buy a subscription to a streaming platform that costs $\$17,99…

Three friends want to buy a subscription to a streaming platform that costs $\$17,99$ a month. They decide to share the cost as follows: John will pay half, Emma will pay a third of the remainder, and Lucy will pay what is left.

Calculate the exact amount (with all its decimals) that each one must contribute. If the bank only allows payments with two decimal places, who do you think should take on the rounding of the extra cent so that the sum is exactly $\$17,99$?

Solve
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A monthly telephone bill includes a fixed charge of $\$18,50$. In addition, each minute of a call costs $\$0,12$ and each text message (SMS) costs $\$0,15…

A monthly telephone bill includes a fixed charge of $\$18,50$. In addition, each minute of a call costs $\$0,12$ and each text message (SMS) costs $\$0,15$. If this month $45$ minutes of calls have been made and a number of messages have been sent such that the cost of the messages is exactly a fifth of the fixed charge:

  1. a) How many messages have been sent?
  2. b) What is the total amount of the bill before taxes?
  3. c) If $21\%$ sales tax must be added to the total (multiply by $0,21$ and add to the total), what will be the final price of the bill? (Round the final result to the nearest cent).
Solve

Lengths, Perimeter, and Area

A rectangle 8.5 feet long and 4.2 feet wide, with perimeter 25.4 feet and area 35.7 square feet. 8.5 ft 4.2 ft Area 35.7 ft² Perimeter 25.4 ft P = 2(8.5 + 4.2) A = 8.5 × 4.2

For laps, the same ideas apply: total distance is (laps) $\times$ (length of one lap), and the number of laps needed is (distance) $\div$ (length of one lap).

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An athlete is training on a circular track. Each lap of the track has a length of $0,45$ miles. If today she has completed a total of $12$ laps, how many miles has she…

An athlete is training on a circular track. Each lap of the track has a length of $0,45$ miles. If today she has completed a total of $12$ laps, how many miles has she run in total? If her goal was to run $6,3$ miles, how many more laps should she have done?

1 lap = 0.45 mi DISTANCE RUN 12 laps GOAL 6.3 mi REMAINING ? laps
Solve
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A city council wants to fence a rectangular park that is $25,4$ feet long and $12,75$ feet wide. The price of the fence is $\$15,20…

A city council wants to fence a rectangular park that is $25,4$ feet long and $12,75$ feet wide. The price of the fence is $\$15,20$ per linear foot. If the total available budget is $\$1.200$, do they have enough money to surround the entire park? Justify your answer with the necessary calculations.

25.4 ft 12.75 ft Valla: $15.20/ft
Solve
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Draw a rectangle with base $b = 12,45 \text{ cm}$ and height $h = 8,2 \text{ cm}$. Calculate its area and its perimeter. Then, imagine that we reduce both the base and…

Draw a rectangle with base $b = 12,45 \text{ cm}$ and height $h = 8,2 \text{ cm}$.

Calculate its area and its perimeter. Then, imagine that we reduce both the base and the height by half. What will the new area be? Is the resulting area half of the original or has it changed in another way? Justify your answer by carrying out the necessary operations.

A₂ A₂ A₂ A₂ b = 12.45 in h = 8.2 in b/2 = 6.225 in h/2 = 4.1 in
Solve

Rates, Speed, and Time

A triangle split into three parts with d on top, s at the bottom left, and t at the bottom right, showing that distance equals speed times time. d s t d = distance, s = speed, t = time

Times are not decimal: a minute has $60$ seconds. To convert seconds to minutes, divide by $60$ and keep the remainder as seconds. To add up many laps, change everything to seconds first.

To find "how much faster" or "how much more", subtract the two values (in the same unit!).

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Emma wants to download three video game files on her console. The first takes up $4,35$ GB, the second twice as much as the first, and the third $1,2$ GB less than the…

Emma wants to download three video game files on her console. The first takes up $4,35$ GB, the second twice as much as the first, and the third $1,2$ GB less than the second. If her connection downloads at a constant speed of $0,05$ GB per second, how many seconds will it take to complete the download of the three files?

Solve
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A marathon runner has completed a stage of $15,6$ miles in an hour and a half ($1,5$ hours). a) What was his average speed in mph? b) If he maintains the same speed, how…

A marathon runner has completed a stage of $15,6$ miles in an hour and a half ($1,5$ hours).

  1. a) What was his average speed in mph?
  2. b) If he maintains the same speed, how many miles will he travel in $2,25$ hours?
Solve
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A Formula 1 car has taken $1 \text{ minute}$ and $24,352 \text{ seconds}$ to complete one lap of the track. If its main rival has taken $84,12 \text{ seconds}$ to…

A Formula 1 car has taken $1 \text{ minute}$ and $24,352 \text{ seconds}$ to complete one lap of the track. If its main rival has taken $84,12 \text{ seconds}$ to complete the same distance:

  1. a) Which of the two was faster?
  2. b) Calculate the time difference between them expressed in seconds.
  3. c) If the first car maintains its pace, how long will it take to complete $15$ full laps? Express the result in minutes and seconds.
Solve

Multi-Step Problems and Leftovers

Four steps for solving a word problem: read, plan, calculate, check. Read Plan Calculate Check what's asked? write steps keep decimals sensible?

Long problems become easy when you write the whole expression before you calculate. Fixed charges are added once. Per-unit charges are multiplied by the number of units. Always put rates in the same time unit before combining them.

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A courier company charges a fixed rate of $\$4,50$ per shipment, plus $\$0,85$ for each pound of the package's weight. If we want to send a package weighing $3,4$ lb and…

A courier company charges a fixed rate of $\$4,50$ per shipment, plus $\$0,85$ for each pound of the package's weight. If we want to send a package weighing $3,4$ lb and we apply a discount coupon of $\$1,25$ to the final price, how much will the shipment cost us? Write the expression with combined operations and solve it.

BASE Fixed Rate $4,50 + COST BY WEIGHT Weight: 3.4 lb × $0.85/lb - DISCOUNT Coupon $1,25
Solve
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A farmer has a water tank with a total capacity of $1\,250,5$ gallons. Due to a small crack, the tank loses $0,75$ gallons every hour. Simultaneously, a water pump pours…

A farmer has a water tank with a total capacity of $1\,250,5$ gallons. Due to a small crack, the tank loses $0,75$ gallons every hour. Simultaneously, a water pump pours $12,4$ gallons into the tank every $15$ minutes. If the tank currently contains $840,25$ gallons:

How many gallons will be in the tank exactly after $4$ and a half hours? Express the result to two decimal places.

Solve
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We are cooking a recipe that requires $0,250 \text{ lb}$ of flour to make $6$ cupcakes. If we want to invite the whole class ($28$ students) and we want everyone to eat…

We are cooking a recipe that requires $0,250 \text{ lb}$ of flour to make $6$ cupcakes. If we want to invite the whole class ($28$ students) and we want everyone to eat $2$ cupcakes:

  1. a) How much flour will we need in total? Express the result in pounds.
  2. b) If we buy $0,75 \text{ lb}$ bags of flour, how many bags will we have to buy at a minimum? Exactly how much flour will we have left over?
× 6 0.250 lb 28 alumnos × 2 magdalenas 56 en total FLOUR 0.75 lb
Solve

Summary

Back to the start: Ethan's items cost $12.45 + 8.90 = 21.35$ dollars, and $50 - 21.35 = 28.65$, so he gets $\$28.65$ back. Add first, then subtract the total from the bill.

See all the exercises in this section