Two factors are multiplied and their product it 34.44. One factor is a whole number. What is the least number of decimal places in the other factor. Explain.

The answer is 2, because if a number is a whole number, for example 2, you must multiply it by a number with 2 decimals, in this case 17.77, to get 34.44 based on this example.

*There are some cases where this doesn't apply, I think, but it does apply for your question.

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MrRoyal MrRoyal · Answer 2 · 2021-08-19T16:38:01+02:00

The number of decimal places is the count of numbers after the decimal point in a decimal number. The least number of decimal places of the decimal factor is 2.

Let the factors be x and y; where:

[tex]x \to[/tex] whole number

[tex]y \to[/tex] number with decimal

The possible products that give 34.44 are represented as:

[tex]x \times y = 34.44[/tex]

So, we have:

[tex]2 \times 17.22 = 34.44[/tex]

[tex]3 \times 11.48 = 34.44[/tex]

[tex]4 \times 8.61 = 34.44[/tex]

[tex]5 \times 6.888 = 34.44[/tex]

[tex]6 \times 5.74 = 34.44[/tex]

And so on....

From the above computation, we have the decimal places of factors that represent y to be:

2 decimal places; i.e. numbers like 17.22, 11.48
3 decimal places; i.e. numbers like 6.888

By comparing the decimal places of these two factors, we can conclude that the least number of decimal places is 2.