Which option lists the three standard forms used to express a positive rational number?

• A. Decimals, Fractions, and Percentages
• B. Fractions, Terminating Decimals, and Percentages
• C. Fractions, Repeating Decimals, and Percentages
• D. Fractions, Mixed Numbers, and Percentages

Answer: (B)

Expressing a positive rational number exactly is usually shown in three familiar forms that students learn to convert between: fractions, terminating decimals, and percentages. A rational number can be written as a fraction, and that same value can be written as a decimal that ends after a finite number of digits (a terminating decimal). If you take that terminating decimal and multiply by 100, you get the percentage form. For example, the fraction 3/4 is the same as the terminating decimal 0.75 and the percentage 75%.

Other representations exist, like repeating decimals or mixed numbers, but the three standard forms highlighted here are the typical, exact ways to express a positive rational number. Repeating decimals are still decimals, but they aren’t listed as the standard trio in this context, and mixed numbers are just another way of writing a fraction with a whole part rather than a separate standard form.