CSET Math Subtest 1 Practice Test 2026 – The All-in-One Guide to Master Your Exam!

When a number can be written as a ratio of two integers, it is called a rational number. If you convert such a fraction to a decimal, the decimal either terminates (ends after a finite number of digits) or repeats a pattern forever (a repeating decimal). For example, 1/2 becomes 0.5, which ends, and 1/3 becomes 0.333..., which repeats. That pattern of ending or repeating is exactly what the question is describing.

In contrast, irrational numbers do not have decimals that end or repeat; their digits go on without any repeating block. Real numbers include both rational and irrational numbers, so not all real numbers have terminating or repeating decimals. Integers are a subset of rational numbers, and their decimals terminate as simple whole-number decimals, but the set described by the property—numbers that can be written as a fraction and thus have terminating or repeating decimals—fits rational numbers best.