What is the decimal equivalent of the fraction 3/8?

To determine the decimal equivalent of the fraction 3/8, you need to divide the numerator (3) by the denominator (8). When you perform this division, you find that 3 divided by 8 equals 0.375.

The conversion process can be thought of as distributing the numerator across the denominator. Since 3 is less than 8, the decimal will be less than 1. In essence, when you calculate how many times 8 can fit into 3, you see that 8 cannot fit at all, leading to the initial zero before the decimal point, and then the process continues to find the fractional remainder, arriving at 0.375 as the final result.

Understanding this division solidifies the idea that 3 parts out of a total of 8 parts—expressed in decimal form—counts for 0.375 of the whole unit.