When working with numbers like 13.395 and 22.8642, we need to express them in a notation that separates their whole parts from their fractional parts. This is where Stevin's notation comes in handy. The key idea is to write the decimal numbers as two separate parts: one for the whole number and another for the fractional component:
- Take the number 13.395; the whole part is 13 and the fractional part is 0.395.
- For 0.395, we multiply the digits by the smallest power of 10 that will eliminate the decimal points, turning it into a fraction: \(\frac{395}{1000}\).
So in Stevin's notation, 13.395 becomes 13, \(\frac{395}{1000}\).
We do this similarly for 22.8642: its whole number is 22 and its fractional component is 0.8642, which becomes \(\frac{8642}{10000}\). Thus, in Stevin's notation, it reads as 22, \(\frac{8642}{10000}\).
This process helps clearly separate the integral and fractional components, making it easier to perform operations like multiplication and division.