Russian Decimals

[zombie-laika.livejournal.com]

Hi, I have a few questions about expression decimal (that is, non-whole) numbers in Russian. Let me begin with some examples: 0,1 => одна десятая, 0,05 => пять сотых, 2,4 => два и четыре десятых (these examples were taken from Wade). I was told that the fractional part of a number is feminine because it is an abbreviated way of saying часть (одна десятая часть). Is this correct? Also, why is два и четыре десятых correct? Why isn't it четыре десятые (this doesn't seem to follow the pattern четыре красивые кошки)? How would I express 2,2?

Another question: In English it's OK to say 3.14 as "three point one four" (instead of "three and fourteen hundredths). In Russian is there a similar "lazy" way to express decimal numbers? I keep thinking about a Russian student reciting a bunch of digits of pi and then having to go back and find the proper denominator!