Video Transcript
We need to complete our statement using less than, equal to, or greater than when comparing three and one-fourth to three point two nine.
We can compare them as fractions or we can compare them as decimals. Sometimes it’s probably a good idea to do both just to double-check your work.
The symbols that are listed are the less than sign, the equal sign, and the greater than sign. If we were to compare them as decimals first, we need to divide one and four. That way we know what one-fourth is as a decimal.
One-fourth is point two five as a decimal. Therefore, three and one-fourth is equal to three point two five. So when deciding which sign to use, three point two five is something of three point two nine. Well three point two five is less than three point two nine.
We know this because three point two five is further left on the number line when compared to three point two nine. We can also compare them as fractions. Instead of three point two five and three point two nine, we can change our decimals into fractions. Three point two five is the same as three and twenty-five one hundredths, and three point two nine is the same as three and twenty-nine one hundredths.
This is because each decimal is ending in a hundredths place, so we can put point two five as twenty-five out of one hundred and point two nine as twenty-nine out of one hundred. Twenty-five one hundredths is less than the twenty-nine one hundredths, so three and twenty-five one hundredths should be less than three and twenty-nine one hundredths. Therefore, our final answer is, three and one-fourth is less than three point two nine.
