---
title: "Converting Fractions, Decimals and Percentages: Practice Questions"
url: https://www.learningloftinstitute.com/practice/fractions-decimals-percentages-practice-questions
source: Learning Loft Institute
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updated: 2026-08-21
section: "Practice › Converting Fractions, Decimals and Percentages: Practice Questions"
---
# Converting Fractions, Decimals and Percentages: Practice Questions
> **Answer.** Twelve questions converting between fractions, decimals and percentages in all three directions. Every fraction becomes a decimal by dividing the numerator by the denominator, then a percentage by multiplying by 100. Two of them, 1/3 and 1/6, recur, and the answers say so instead of rounding quietly.
## One route handles every conversion here
Fraction to decimal is a division: the numerator divided by the denominator, in that order. Decimal to percentage is a multiplication by 100. Run those two in sequence and any fraction becomes a percentage without a separate rule to remember.
Going the other way, reverse them. A percentage divided by 100 gives the decimal; the decimal read by its last column gives the fraction, because the last digit names the denominator - tenths, hundredths, thousandths - and then it is cancelled down. Every answer below uses this and nothing else.
## 1/3 is not 0.33
Two of these twelve do not convert to a decimal that stops. 1 ÷ 3 gives 0.333... and 1 ÷ 6 gives 0.1666..., and both go on forever. Writing 0.33 and moving on looks harmless until three of them are added and the total comes to 0.99 instead of 1.
There are two honest answers and both are acceptable. Give the exact percentage as a mixed number - 33 1/3 % and 16 2/3 % - or give a rounded decimal and say what it has been rounded to. What is not acceptable is a rounded figure written as though it were exact, because everything built on it inherits an error nobody can trace.
## The conversions worth knowing without working them out
About a dozen conversions come up often enough that dividing them out each time is wasted effort. They are the eighths, the fifths, the quarters and the thirds, and between them they cover most of what an exam asks.
The eighths are the ones most often missed, and they are the easiest to rebuild: 1/8 = 0.125, and every other eighth is a multiple of it.
- 1/2 = 0.5 = 50%
- 1/4 = 0.25 = 25% and 3/4 = 0.75 = 75%
- 1/5 = 0.2 = 20%, so 2/5 = 40%, 3/5 = 60%, 4/5 = 80%
- 1/8 = 0.125 = 12.5%, so 3/8 = 37.5%, 5/8 = 62.5%, 7/8 = 87.5%
- 1/10 = 0.1 = 10% and 1/20 = 0.05 = 5%
- 1/3 = 33 1/3 % and 2/3 = 66 2/3 % - exact only as fractions
## Common mistakes
- Writing 1/3 as 0.33 and then using it as though it were exact, so that three thirds come to 0.99 rather than 1.
- Moving the decimal point the wrong way between decimals and percentages, so 0.45 is given as 4.5% instead of 45%.
- Reading 0.6 as six hundredths and writing 6/100, which cancels to 3/50 and is ten times too small.
- Ordering 3/5, 0.62 and 63% by comparing 3, 0.62 and 63 rather than converting all three into one form first.
- Finding 15% of PKR 2,400 correctly and then giving PKR 360 as the sale price instead of subtracting it from 2,400.
## Practice questions
### Question 1
Write 3/4 as a decimal and as a percentage.
**Answer:** 0.75 and 75%
1. 3 ÷ 4 = 0.75
2. 0.75 × 100 = 75
3. So 3/4 = 0.75 = 75%
### Question 2
Write 0.6 as a fraction in its lowest terms and as a percentage.
**Answer:** 3/5 and 60%
1. The 6 sits in the tenths column, so 0.6 = 6/10.
2. Divide numerator and denominator by 2: 6/10 = 3/5.
3. 0.6 × 100 = 60, so 0.6 = 3/5 = 60%.
### Question 3
Write 45% as a decimal and as a fraction in its lowest terms.
**Answer:** 0.45 and 9/20
1. Per cent means out of 100, so 45% = 45/100.
2. 45 ÷ 100 = 0.45
3. Divide numerator and denominator by 5: 45/100 = 9/20.
### Question 4
Write 7/8 as a decimal and as a percentage.
**Answer:** 0.875 and 87.5%
1. 7 ÷ 8: 8 into 70 goes 8 remainder 6; 8 into 60 goes 7 remainder 4; 8 into 40 goes 5.
2. So 7 ÷ 8 = 0.875
3. 0.875 × 100 = 87.5, so 7/8 = 87.5%.
### Question 5
Write 0.125 as a fraction in its lowest terms and as a percentage.
**Answer:** 1/8 and 12.5%
1. The last digit is in the thousandths column, so 0.125 = 125/1000.
2. Divide numerator and denominator by 125: 125/1000 = 1/8.
3. 0.125 × 100 = 12.5, so 0.125 = 1/8 = 12.5%.
### Question 6
Write 1/3 as a decimal and as a percentage. Give exact answers.
**Answer:** 0.333... (0.3 recurring) and 33 1/3 %
1. 1 ÷ 3 = 0.333..., and the 3 repeats without ending.
2. Exactly, that is 0.3 recurring.
3. 0.333... × 100 = 33.333...%, which as an exact figure is 33 1/3 %.
4. If a rounded answer is wanted: 0.333 to 3 d.p., or 33.3% to 1 d.p. - and say so.
### Question 7
Write 1/6 as a decimal and as a percentage. Give exact answers.
**Answer:** 0.1666... (0.16 with the 6 recurring) and 16 2/3 %
1. 1 ÷ 6 = 0.1666..., and the 6 repeats without ending.
2. × 100 gives 16.666...%.
3. Exactly, that is 16 2/3 %, since two thirds of one per cent is 0.666...%.
4. Rounded: 0.167 to 3 d.p., or 16.7% to 1 d.p.
### Question 8
Put these in ascending order: 0.62, 3/5, 63%, 0.605
**Answer:** 3/5, 0.605, 0.62, 63%
1. Convert everything to a decimal. 3 ÷ 5 = 0.6 and 63 ÷ 100 = 0.63.
2. The four values are now 0.62, 0.6, 0.63, 0.605.
3. Write them to the same number of decimal places: 0.620, 0.600, 0.630, 0.605.
4. In order: 0.600, 0.605, 0.620, 0.630 - that is 3/5, 0.605, 0.62, 63%.
### Question 9
A shirt costs PKR 2,400 and is reduced by 15% in a sale. What is the sale price?
**Answer:** PKR 2,040
1. 10% of 2,400 = 240, so 5% of 2,400 = 120.
2. 15% = 240 + 120 = 360
3. The question asks for the price, not the discount: 2,400 - 360 = 2,040.
4. Check with a multiplier: 100% - 15% = 85%, and 0.85 × 2,400 = 2,040.
### Question 10
Write 5/16 as a decimal and as a percentage.
**Answer:** 0.3125 and 31.25%
1. 5 ÷ 16: 16 into 50 goes 3 remainder 2; into 20 goes 1 remainder 4; into 40 goes 2 remainder 8; into 80 goes 5.
2. So 5 ÷ 16 = 0.3125
3. 0.3125 × 100 = 31.25, so 5/16 = 31.25%.
4. Sense check: 5/16 is a little under 1/3, and 31.25% is a little under 33 1/3 %.
### Question 11
17 students out of a class of 40 walk to school. What percentage is that?
**Answer:** 42.5%
1. 17 out of 40 is the fraction 17/40.
2. 17 ÷ 40 = 0.425
3. 0.425 × 100 = 42.5%
4. Check: 40 × 0.425 = 17
### Question 12
Which is larger, 5/8 or 62%? By how much?
**Answer:** 5/8 is larger, by 0.5 of a percentage point
1. 5 ÷ 8 = 0.625, so 5/8 = 62.5%.
2. 62% = 0.62
3. 0.625 > 0.620, so 5/8 is the larger.
4. 62.5% - 62% = 0.5 of a percentage point.
## Questions
### Which way round do I divide to turn a fraction into a decimal?
Numerator divided by denominator - the top number by the bottom one. For 3/4 that is 3 ÷ 4 = 0.75. Doing it the other way gives 1.333..., which is bigger than 1 and therefore visibly wrong for a fraction that is less than a whole.
### Why do 1/3 and 1/6 not give a decimal that stops?
A fraction terminates as a decimal only when its denominator, in lowest terms, is built from 2s and 5s. 4, 8, 16, 20 and 40 all are, which is why 3/4, 7/8, 5/16 and 17/40 stop. 3 and 6 are not, so those two recur forever.
### What is the difference between 0.5 of a percentage point and 0.5 per cent?
A percentage point is the gap between two percentages. 5/8 is 62.5% and 62% is 62%, so the gap is 0.5 of a percentage point. Saying 5/8 is 0.5% larger would mean something different - about a hundredth of a point - and in a question about interest rates that difference matters.
### When are children expected to know these conversions?
By the end of Year 6 in England. The national curriculum expects pupils to recall and use equivalences between simple fractions, decimals and percentages, including in different contexts. The eighths and the thirds are the pair most often still missing when pupils reach us in Year 7.
## Sources
1. National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study — Department for Education. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study (accessed 2026-08-21)
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