decimal fraction

[ des-uh-muhl frak-shuhn, des-muhl ]

noun

, Arithmetic.

1. a fraction whose denominator is some power of 10, usually indicated by a decimal point placed before the numerator, as 0.4 = 4/10; 0.126 = 126/1000.

decimal fraction

noun

1. See decimal
   another name for decimal

decimal fraction

1. A decimal having no digits to the left of the decimal point except zero, such as 0.2 or 0.00354.

Word History and Origins

Origin of decimal fraction¹

First recorded in 1650–60

Example Sentences

You get an endless decimal fraction for quotient when your division does not work out evenly.

From Project Gutenberg

Expressed as a vulgar fraction it is 2/3; but as a decimal fraction it is .6666 ad infinitum.

From Project Gutenberg

We do all this consciously, in full statistical knowledge to a decimal fraction.

From Project Gutenberg

He was an engineer and a soldier, and his La Disme was the first separate treatise on the decimal fraction.

From Project Gutenberg

Can the same words mean both a common fraction and a decimal fraction?

From Project Gutenberg