Decimals as denominators. The relationship between decimals and fractions causes
much confusion for students. When converting between decimals and fractions students
may not view a decimal as a part of a whole. Students may recognise 0.4 as
14
and 0.5 as
15
. Students may also conclude that 0.4 is bigger than 0.5 since
14
is bigger than
15
(Steinle,
1998a). Evidence by Hiebert suggests that students prior to grade 9 expressed difficulty
converting 0.1 to
10
1
and 0.4 to
15
. After this students began to misunderstand the
conversion between decimals and fractions confusing
100
83
for 0.083. (Hiebert, 1983.)