GRE Math : How to order decimals from least to greatest or from greatest to least

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #5 : How To Order Decimals From Least To Greatest Or From Greatest To Least

Put the following in order of least to greatest:

 

Possible Answers:

None of the other answers

Correct answer:

None of the other answers

Explanation:

Begin by converting each fraction into a decimal:

 

Now we can put the decimals in order:

0.269, 0.27, 0.2788, 0.28, 0.3157

or:

No answer choice matches this order, so our answer is "None of the other answers"

Example Question #1 : How To Order Decimals From Least To Greatest Or From Greatest To Least

Put these decimals in order from least to greatest:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To put these numbers in order from least to greatest we start by looking at the number before the decimal. In this case they're all the same (7) so we move to the first number to the right of the decimal. Since 8 is greater than 3 we know that 7.8 and 7.835 must be greater than the other two options. To decide if 7.8 or 7.835 is greater we look at the next number to the right. Since 7.8 doesn't have another number to the right we know that the number to the right must be 0. Since 3 is greater than 0 we know that 7.835 is greater than 7.8. We follow the same process to find that 7.35 is less than 7.358. Then we can put the numbers in order from least to greatest: 7.35, 7.358, 7.8, 7.835.

Example Question #3 : How To Order Decimals From Least To Greatest Or From Greatest To Least

Order these decimals from greatest to least:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We first look at the whole number and see that 5 is greater than 4, so we know that the two biggest numbers are going to be 5.19 and 5.09. We then look at the number to the right of the decimal since 1 is greater than 0 we know that 5.19 is the biggest number and 5.09 is the second biggest. Then we compare the numbers that start with 4 by looking to the number to the right of the decimal. Since 9 is greater than 1 or 0 we know that 4.9 is the next biggest number. Since 1 is greater than 0 we know that 4.19 is greater than 4.09. Then we just put the numbers in order from greatest to least to get the correct answer: 5.19, 5.09, 4.9, 4.19, 4.09.

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