These are decimal numbers, and dots above some of the digits make them recurring decimals. One dot means the digit under it repeats infinitely. In other words, it goes on forever (and ever and ever).

Converting between fractions, decimals and percentages is a useful problem-solving skill. The data can be more easily ordered by size when written in the same format. Calculations often give a decimal ...

Q. Thanks for your advice in the September 2001 issue on converting fractions in Excel into decimal values. But how about those of us who need to do the reverse—that is, convert decimal values into ...

If you're using Excel to calculate monetary values, then you only have to worry about two decimal places in your numbers. Aligning your numbers to the right automatically lines up the decimal points ...