| FRACTIONS BASICS |
What Are Fractions?
A fraction can mean a part of a whole or a part of a group.
When we look at a fraction, what do we see? There's one whole number over another whole number.
The top number in a fraction is called the numerator
The bottom number is called the denominator
The numerator tells us what part of the whole or group we have,
The denominator tells us the total number of parts in the whole or group.
Though we usually think a fraction is a smaller part of a whole something, that's only true sometimes. Other times, a fraction is bigger than a whole something. But a fraction is always a division statement. The number ½ says that we divided 1 whole thing into 2 equal parts. In the same way, ¾ says we divided something -- say a pizza -- into 4 equal parts and we ate 3 of them or 3 of them are left over.
It could also mean we have 4 things of equal size or value, and 3 of them are of interest because of something about them -- a quality they share -- they're all red or they've all been eaten. So if we ordered 4 pizzas and ate 3 of them, we'd have eaten ¾ of all the pizzas.
We would have 1 of 4 or ¼ of all the pizzas left over.
A Fraction Means DIVISION
When we take half of something, we divide by 2.
If we need a fifth of something, we divide it by 5.
A Fraction can be part of a whole or part of a group.
Here are some fraction images. Notice that the blue and red circles are all exactly the same size and that the parts or sections of the rectangle and the pie are also equal in size.
Fraction Images
Writing 1 as a Fraction
We know that a fraction means division -- and we know that any number divided by itself is equal to 1 -- so to write 1 as a fraction, we put the same number in the numerator and in the denominator.
Now get a pencil, an eraser and a note book, copy the questions,
do the practice exercise(s), then check your work with the solutions.
If you get stuck, review the examples in the lesson, then try again.
.
Practice Exercises
1) Make a table like the one shown then use the diagram to fill it in. The first one is done for you.
| equal parts | red part in digits |
blue part in words |
| a) 6 |  |
five-sixths |
| b) | ||
| c) | ||
| d) | ||
| e) |
2)
Make a table like the one shown then use the diagram to fill it in. The first one is done for you.
| equal units | red part in digits |
blue part in words |
| a) 7 |  |
three-sevenths |
| b) | ||
| c) | ||
| d) |
3) Write a fraction = 1 with these numbers in the denominators:
| a) 19 | b) 23 | c) 207 | d) 45 | e) 64 |
Solutions
| equal parts | red part in digits |
blue part in words |
| a) 6 parts |  |
five-sixths |
| b) 9 parts |  |
four-ninths |
| c) 5 parts |  |
three-fifths |
| d) 8 parts |  |
five-eighths |
| e) 4 parts |  |
three-fourths three-quarters |
| equal units | red part in digits |
blue part in words |
| a) 7 |  |
three-sevenths |
| b) 9 |  |
seven-ninths |
| c) 11 |  |
seven-elevenths |
| d) 5 |  |
two-fifths |
3) Write a fraction = 1 with these numbers in the denominators:
a)  |
b)  |
c)  |
d)  |
e)  |
