Printable Decimals Math Worksheets

When a measurement or a quantity isn’t a whole number, we can use a decimal or a fraction.

Decimals are often easier to work with than fractions. Any time-continuous data is being handled, such as height, weight, and distance, decimals are useful. It is very rare that when you go on a journey, the distance traveled is an exact whole number of miles. And if you are performing a science experiment, you will have to measure temperature, chemicals, lengths, and other quantities to a high level of accuracy in order to get accurate results. Measuring to one or two decimal places will be beneficial in these situations. Currency is another example in which we use decimals in our everyday lives. You might not be consciously thinking about all the decimals problems you did in school when you buy your groceries, but you know that in order to buy a bag of pears for $1.40, you will need one dollar and forty cents, or 40 hundredths of a dollar. You might also need to add several amounts containing decimals in order to figure out whether you have enough money to pay for your shopping. Because adding and subtracting decimal numbers is usually simpler than adding and subtracting fractions, currency amounts are represented using decimals.

To subtract decimals, you just have to write down the two numbers, one under other, with the decimal points lined up. If the numbers don’t have the same length, just add zeros to the end of the shorter number. Then just subtract the numbers, placing the point on the same location.

For adding decimals just follow the steps from before and instead of subtracting, add the numbers.