One of the math applications is to convert fractions to decimals. When you turn to the
business section of a newspaper, you will see pages of numbers, arranged in lines that
appear like this:
| 52Wk
Hi |
52 Wk
Lo |
Stock |
Sym |
Div |
Yld% |
PE |
Vol/100 |
Hi |
Lo |
Close |
Net
Chg. |
| 72 5/8 |
51 1/8 |
Coca-Cola |
KO |
0.56 |
0.9 |
39 |
21304 |
66 3/8 |
64 1/4 |
65 1/2 |
-1 1/8 |
Stock Quotes Key:
Stock: name of company (Coca-Cola)
- 52 Weeks High: highest price per share for the year ($72 5/8)
52 Weeks Low: lowest price per share for the year ($51 1/8)
High: highest price per share for the day ($66 3/8)
Low: lowest price per share for the day ($64 1/4)
Close: price of a share at the close of the day ($65 1/2)
Change: the amount of change from the previous day’s closing
(-1 1/8)
When investing in stocks, the investor must learn how to read the financial page. Since
all the numbers in stock quotes show fractions, the investor needs to learn how to convert
fractions to decimals.
Here are some examples of fractions that have been converted to decimals.
 |
 |
 |
| 1/8 |
0.125 |
0.13 |
| 1/4 |
0.250 |
0.25 |
| 3/8 |
0.375 |
0.38 |
| 3/4 |
0.750 |
0.75 |
| 7/8 |
0.875 |
0.88 |
Use the 'Get Quote' box above (top left-hand corner) to get the stock quotes of IBM and
General Electric. Type in 'ibm ge' and separate the symbols with a space. Then click the
Get Quote button. Compare this table with the one shown in the newspaper.
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