NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Maths Chapter 4 In-text Questions — Is the Product Always Greater than the Numbers Multiplied? (2026-27)

Q1.

Example 5: Let us use the above rule to find the product of 5.8 and 1.24. […] Verify this by converting the multiplier and multiplicand into fractions.

Answer

The product is 7.192.

By the rule:
58 × 124 = 7192
Decimal places: 1 + 2 = 3
5.8 × 1.24 = 7.192

Verification with fractions:
5.8 = 58/10, 1.24 = 124/100
58/10 × 124/100 = (58 × 124) / (10 × 100)
= 7192/1000
= 7.192 ✓

Why it happens: the two ways are the same calculation written differently. The rule is only a short way of saying "the denominators 10 and 100 multiply to 1000".

Check it yourself: 1.24 is just over 1, so the answer must be just over 5.8. And 7.192 is a little more than 5.8 — sensible, because 5.8 × 1.24 is 5.8 plus about a quarter of 5.8.

Q2.

When is the product of two decimals greater than both the numbers? When is it less than both the numbers?

Answer

It depends only on whether each number is bigger or smaller than 1.

Situation	Multiplication	Relationship
Situation 1	Both numbers are greater than 1 (3.4 × 6.5)	The product (22.1) is greater than both the numbers
Situation 2	Both numbers are between 0 and 1 (0.75 × 0.4)	The product (0.3) is less than both the numbers
Situation 3	One is between 0 and 1, one is greater than 1 (0.75 × 5)	The product (3.75) is less than 5 but greater than 0.75

The book's three examples show the same thing:

2.25 × 8 = 18 → 18 is bigger than both 2.25 and 8
0.25 × 8 = 2 → 2 is bigger than 0.25 but smaller than 8
0.25 × 0.8 = 0.2 → 0.2 is smaller than both

Why it happens: multiplying by a number greater than 1 means taking more than one whole copy, so the number grows. Multiplying by a number between 0 and 1 means taking only a part of it, so the number shrinks. In 0.25 × 8 you are taking a quarter of 8 — smaller than 8, but eight quarters is far more than one quarter. That is exactly Situation 3.

Tip: multiplying by 1 changes nothing. So 1 is the dividing line: above it products grow, below it they shrink.