When Do Rational Number Terminate?

The GMAT wont give you a complicated fraction like 9/160 and expect you to figure out
what its decimal expression is. BUT, the GMAT could give you a fraction like 9/160 and ask
whether it terminates or not. How do you know?
Well, first of all, any terminating decimal (like 0.0376) is, essentially, a fraction with a power
of ten in the dominator; for example, 0.0376 = 376/10000 = 47/1250. Notice we simplified
this fraction, by cancelling a factor of 8 in the numerator. Ten has factors of 2 and 5, so any
power of ten will have powers of 2 and powers of 5, and some might be canceled by factors
in the numerator , but no other factors will be introduced into the denominator. Thus, if the
prime factorization of the denominator of a fraction has only factors of 2 and factors of 5,
then it can be written as something over a power of ten, which means its decimal
expression will terminate.
If the prime factorization of the denominator of a fraction has only factors of 2 and factors
of 5, the decimal expression terminates. If there is any prime factor in the denominator
other than 2 or 5, then the decimal expression repeats. Thus,

1/24 repeats (theres a factor of 3)

1/25 terminates (just powers of 5)
1/28 repeats (theres a factor of 7)
1/32 terminates (just powers of 2)
1/40 terminates (just powers of 2 and 5)

Notice, as long as the fraction is in lowest terms, the numerator doesnt matter at all. Since
1/40 terminates, then 7/40, 13/40, or any other integer over 40 also terminates. Since 1/28

repeats, then 5/28 and 15/28 and 25/28 all repeat; notice, though that 7/28 doesnt repeat,
because of the cancellation: 7/28 = 1/4 = 0.25.

Irrationals
Theres another category of decimals that dont terminate (they go on forever) and they
have no repeating pattern.

These numbers, the non-terminating non-repeating decimals,

are called the irrational numbers. It is impossible to write any one of them as a ratio of two
integers. Mr. Pythagoras (c. 570 c. 495 bce) was the first to prove a number irrational: he
proved that the square-root of 2

is irrational. We now know: all square-roots

of integers that dont come out evenly are irrational. Another famous irrational number is
, or pi, the ratio of a circles circumference to its diameter. For example,
=
3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164
0628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535
940812848111745
0284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233
786783165271201
909145648566923460348610454326648213393072602491412737