What is 5 sixths as a fraction?

Updated May 04, 2018

By Karie Lapham Fay

People use fractions, mixed numbers and decimals often, without even thinking about it. For instance, when you see a sale price, you might mentally calculate the savings by transforming a percent into a decimal, then into a price. Cooks use fractions when calculating recipes. In fact, much of life involves fractions, which may be expressed as a mixed number – indicating wholes and parts of a whole – or as a decimal. Take 5/6 as an example; then you can generalize the process to other fractions.

Convert the fraction 5/6 to a mixed number by adding the understood number in front of the fraction. A mixed number is any whole number with a fraction portion. If the upper number – the numerator – were bigger than the lower number – the denominator – also known as an improper fraction, you would divide the denominator into the numerator and calculate how many times it goes in, resulting in a whole number. The remainder, what is left after creating your whole number, is then expressed as a fraction over the original denominator. But 5/6 is a proper fraction with a larger denominator. In this instance, there is an understood "0" in front of the fraction. Expressed as a fraction, 5/6 = 0 5/6.

Write 5/6 as the mixed number 0 5/6. Leave the 0 off unless specifically notating a mixed number, however.

Divide the numerator, 5, by the denominator, 6, to express the fraction 5/6 as a decimal. You can do this on either a calculator or using long division by hand. The answer will equal 0.83333 with the number 3 repeating endlessly. This is known as a repeating decimal.

Write the answer as "0.83" with a bar over the 3, representing a repeating number. Alternatively, in some cases you may round the number down or up – although this will be less accurate – or write the 3 out to a given decimal place. For instance, rounded down, the answer is 0.83 or even 0.8; written to three decimal places, the answer is 0.833.

Use the rules for converting a fraction to a decimal by finding a number that, when multiplied by the denominator, results in a multiple of 100. Multiply both the numerator and denominator by this number, then write down the numerator, inserting a decimal one space from the right for each zero in the denominator. If the number will not evenly divide into 10, 100, 1,000 or higher, as in 5/6, approximate the number to multiply with. For instance, use 17 to multiply 5/6. The result is 85, and there are two zeros in 100. So, the answer is 0.85 – fairly close to the actual answer. Notate properly to answer.

5 over 6 as a decimal. Use this simple calculator to simplify (reduce) 5 / 6 and turn it into a decimal.

• Click here for the opposite conversion

What is 5 / 6 simplified?

5⁄6 is already simplified

What is 5 / 6 as a decimal?

0.83(repeating digits marked)

What is 5 / 6 as a mixed number?

5⁄6 = 0 5⁄6

What is 5 / 6 spelled out?

five sixths

5/6 is already in the simplest form. It can be written as 0.833333 in decimal form (rounded to 6 decimal places).

Steps to simplifying fractions

1. Find the GCD (or HCF) of numerator and denominator
   GCD of 5 and 6 is 1
2. Divide both the numerator and denominator by the GCD
   5 ÷ 1/6 ÷ 1
3. Reduced fraction: 5/6
   Therefore, 5/6 simplified to lowest terms is 5/6.

MathStep (Works offline)

Download our mobile app and learn to work with fractions in your own time:
Android and iPhone/ iPad

Equivalent fractions: 10/12 15/18 25/30 35/42

More fractions: 10/6 5/12 15/6 5/18 6/6 5/74/6 5/5

Equivalent Fractions Calculator

E-mail This Page To A Friend

Here is the answer to questions like: 5/6 or What numbers are equivalent to 5/6?

This Equivalent Fractions Calculator will show you, step-by-step, equivalent fractions to any fraction you input.

See below the step-by-step solution on how to find equivalent fractions.

Two fractions are equivalent when they are both equal when written in lowest terms. The fraction 1012 is equal to 56 when reduced to lowest terms. To find equivalent fractions, you just need to multiply the numerator and denominator of that reduced fraction (56) by the same natural number, ie, multiply by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ...

Important: 56 looks like a fraction, but it is actually an improper fraction.

• 1012 is equivalent to 56 because 5 × 26 × 2 = 1012
• 1518 is equivalent to 56 because 5 × 36 × 3 = 1518
• 2024 is equivalent to 56 because 5 × 46 × 4 = 2024
• 2530 is equivalent to 56 because 5 × 56 × 5 = 2530
• and so on ...

At a glance, equivalent fractions look different, but if you reduce then to the lowest terms you will get the same value showing that they are equivalent. If a given fraction is not reduced to lowest terms, you can find other equivalent fractions by dividing both numerator and denominator by the same number.

Finding equivalent fractions can be ease if you use this rule:

Equivalent fractions definition: two fractions ab and cd are equivalent only if the product (multiplication) of the numerator (a) of the first fraction and the denominator (d) of the other fraction is equal to the product of the denominator (b) of the first fraction and the numerator (c) of the other fraction.

In other words, if you cross-multiply (ab and cd) the equality will remain, i.e, a.d = b.c. So, here are some examples:

• 1012 is equivalent to 56 because 10 × 6 = 12 × 5 = 60
• 1518 is equivalent to 56 because 15 × 6 = 18 × 5 = 90
• 2024 is equivalent to 56 because 20 × 6 = 24 × 5 = 120

This Equivalent Fractions Table/Chart contains common practical fractions. You can easily convert from fraction to decimal, as well as, from fractions of inches to millimeters.

1/64 1/32 1/16 1/8 1/4 1/2 Decimal mm

1/64						0.015625	0.397
2/64	1/32					0.03125	0.794
3/64						0.046875	1.191
4/64	2/32	1/16				0.0625	1.588
5/64						0.078125	1.984
6/64	3/32					0.09375	2.381
7/64						0.109375	2.778
8/64	4/32	2/16	1/8			0.125	3.175
9/64						0.140625	3.572
10/64	5/32					0.15625	3.969
11/64						0.171875	4.366
12/64	6/32	3/16				0.1875	4.763
13/64						0.203125	5.159
14/64	7/32					0.21875	5.556
15/64						0.234375	5.953
16/64	8/32	4/16	2/8	1/4		0.25	6.35
17/64						0.265625	6.747
18/64	9/32					0.28125	7.144
19/64						0.296875	7.541
20/64	10/32	5/16				0.3125	7.938
21/64						0.328125	8.334
22/64	11/32					0.34375	8.731
23/64						0.359375	9.128
24/64	12/32	6/16	3/8			0.375	9.525
25/64						0.390625	9.922
26/64	13/32					0.40625	10.319
27/64						0.421875	10.716
28/64	14/32	7/16				0.4375	11.113
29/64						0.453125	11.509
30/64	15/32					0.46875	11.906
31/64						0.484375	12.303
32/64	16/32	8/16	4/8	2/4	1/2	0.5	12.7
33/64						0.515625	13.097
34/64	17/32					0.53125	13.494
35/64						0.546875	13.891
36/64	18/32	9/16				0.5625	14.288
37/64						0.578125	14.684
38/64	19/32					0.59375	15.081
39/64						0.609375	15.478
40/64	20/32	10/16	5/8			0.625	15.875
41/64						0.640625	16.272
42/64	21/32					0.65625	16.669
43/64						0.671875	17.066
44/64	22/32	11/16				0.6875	17.463
45/64						0.703125	17.859
46/64	23/32					0.71875	18.256
47/64						0.734375	18.653
48/64	24/32	12/16	6/8	3/4		0.75	19.05
49/64						0.765625	19.447
50/64	25/32					0.78125	19.844
51/64						0.796875	20.241
52/64	26/32	13/16				0.8125	20.638
53/64						0.828125	21.034
54/64	27/32					0.84375	21.431
55/64						0.859375	21.828
56/64	28/32	14/16	7/8			0.875	22.225
57/64						0.890625	22.622
58/64	29/32					0.90625	23.019
59/64						0.921875	23.416
60/64	30/32	15/16				0.9375	23.813
61/64						0.953125	24.209
62/64	31/32					0.96875	24.606
63/64						0.984375	25.003
64/64	32/32	16/16	8/8	4/4	2/2	1	25.4

Reference:

• [1] How to Find Equivalent Fractions

While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided on this website, neither this website nor its authors are responsible for any errors or omissions. Therefore, the contents of this site are not suitable for any use involving risk to health, finances or property.