Final answer:
The fraction equal to 0.002 is 1/500, not 1/10. It is found by recognizing 0.002 as 2 thousandths and simplifying the corresponding fraction 2/1000 to 1/500, which is the simplest form.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student has asked what fraction is equal to 0.002. To express the decimal 0.002 as a fraction, we recognize it as 2 thousandths. In fraction form, this is written as 2/1000. Simplifying this fraction by dividing both the numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 2, we get 1/500. This fraction cannot be simplified further. Therefore, the answer is 1/500 and not 1/10, which represents 0.1, a number significantly larger than 0.002.
It's important to make a clear distinction between the value 0.002 and other numbers. For instance, when we deal with scientific notation, a number like 0.0004505 could be expressed as 4.505 x 10-4 which retains the same value but in a different format. It's clear from examples like these that understanding the value and its representation, whether in decimal or fraction form, is crucial in mathematics.
Converting decimals to fractions is a fundamental concept in math that students encounter often. As with the decimal 0.002, moving the decimal point three places to the right gives us the numerator (2), and the denominator is the power of 10 corresponding to the number of places we moved the decimal (1000).