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For the period of something like $1/d$ where $d$ is a positive integer, I saw an algorithm repeatedly doing:

$$\begin{align*}r &= 1\\ r &= 10r \bmod d \quad\text{ (until } r = 1) \end{align*}$$

and the number of steps was the period.

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    The period is the smallest positive $k$ such that $10^k\equiv 1\pmod{d}$. Of course we must put restrictions on $d$. Assume that neither $2$ nor $5$ divides $d$.2012-05-26
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    It does not work for $d=6$2012-05-26
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    Ah yes I had it wrong but it was just long division.2012-05-27

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This is just long division. Once you reach the end you take the remainder over, put a zero next to it and repeat the process, eg:

$$ 2/5 = (2.0)/5 = 0.4 $$

So in this case since we are doing $1/d$ we start with one. How many times this process is repeated is just how many times we carried the remainder over which is the length of the decimal.

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    Ah you're exactly right.2012-05-27