Can You Multiply a Fraction and a Decimal?
Fractions and decimals are both ways to represent quantities that include some amount less than a whole number. They’re both just representations of quantity, so you multiplying them together is definitely possible. This may seem confusing at first because they are in different forms, but there are a couple of ways to get there…
Convert Both Values to Decimals
A fraction can easily be converted to a decimal number by dividing the numerator by the denominator, either by hand or by using a calculator. Once you have both values in the problem in decimal form, multiplying them together is a straightforward path to an answer.
Convert Both Values to Fractions
If your decimal value is a familiar value that you can easily convert into a fraction or mixed number, that opens up the option to use basic fraction multiplication to solve the problem.
Treat the Decimal as a Fraction
A final approach is to turn the decimal number into a fraction over one. You can then perform the normal steps for multiplying fractions, although you will in all likelihood wind up with a decimal numerator, which certainly isn’t proper form for your answer. However, as a final step you can divide this decimal numerator by the denominator to get the final result as a decimal, or if the math works out properly, you can multiply or divide the result by a constant value to get a conventional fraction.
If you are looking for more examples, there is a great walkthrough of a similar question at themathdoctors.org that illustrate these strategies.
