Question

Error Analysis A newspaper reporter wrote an article about the amount of a toxin found in a river near a factory. In the​ article, the reporter incorrectly used 0.25 as the decimal form of 1/4%


way to write 1/4​% as a​ decimal? What did the reporter do​ wrong?

]
1/4​% as a decimal is__
  
enter your response here.

Answer 1

To convert \( \frac{1}{4}\% \) to a decimal, follow these steps:

1. **Convert the percentage to a fraction**:
\[
\frac{1}{4}\% = \frac{1}{4} \div 100 = \frac{1}{4} \times \frac{1}{100} = \frac{1}{400}
\]

2. **Convert the fraction to a decimal**:
To compute \( \frac{1}{400} \):
\[
\frac{1}{400} = 0.0025
\]

Thus, \( \frac{1}{4}\% \) as a decimal is \( 0.0025 \).

### What the reporter did wrong:
The reporter incorrectly used \( 0.25 \) instead of \( 0.0025 \). The mistake stems from misunderstanding the conversion of percentages to decimals; 0.25 represents \( 25\% \), not \( \frac{1}{4}\% \).