Repeating Decimals

A decimal number that has digits that repeat forever. The part that repeats is usually shown by placing dots over the first and last digits of the repeating pattern, or sometimes a line over the pattern. The minimum number of digits that repeats in such a number is known as the decimal period. All rational numbers have either finite decimal expansions or repeating decimals . However, irrational numbers, such as pi=3.141592... neither terminate nor become periodic. Numbers such as 0.5 are sometimes regarded as repeating decimals since .