Once you understand the principles, you can take a shortcut by counting decimal places. For instance,
the number of decimal places in the result of a cubed decimal is 3 times the number of decimal places
in the original decimal:
(0.04)3 = 0.000064 (0.04)3 = 0.000064
2 places 2 x 3 = 6 places
Likewise, the number of decimal places in a cube root is 1/3 the number of decimal places in the original
decimal:
^0000000008= 0.002 ^0000000008 = 0.002
9 places 9 ^ 3 = 3 places
However, make sure that you can work with powers of 10 using exponent rules

There is, however, a shortcut that can make fraction multiplication much less tedious. The shortcut is to
simplify your products multiplying. This is also known as “cancelling.”
Notice that the 8 in the numerator and the 72 in the denominator both have 8 as a factor. Thus, they
81
can be simplified from — to — .
72 9
Notice also that 35 in the numerator and 15 in the denominator both have 5 as a factor. Thus, they can
35 7
be simplified from — to —.
* 15 3
Now the multiplication will be easier and no further simplification will be necessary:
8 x 35 = 8(35) _ 1(7) _ 7
15X72 15(72) 3(9) 27
Always try to cancel factors before multiplying fractions!
In order to multiply mixed numbers, you should first convert each mixed number into an improper
fraction:
, 1 , 3 7 33
2-x6-=-x—
3535
You can simplify the problem, using the multiplication shortcut of cancelling, and then convert the
result to a mixed number: