Fractions
Fractions show parts of whole numbers and represent division.
3
For example, 7 is the same as 3÷ 7.
The top number is called the numerator, the bottom number
is called the denominator.
3
1a) What is the denominator of the fraction 8 ?
1
1b) What is the numerator of the fraction 11 ?
1
shows one part of a whole, which has been evenly split in to
4
4 parts:
1 2 3 4
2
shows 2 parts of a whole, which has been evenly split into 5
5
parts:
1 2 3 4 5
3
2a) Shade 4 of the space below.
3
2b) Shade 3 of the space below. What’s strange about this?
, Equivalent fractions are written differently, even though they
1
are exactly the same. For example, work out the values of 2
2
and 4 …
1 2
We can say that 2 = 4 .
1 2
So 2 is the simplified version of 4 .
To simplify a fraction, we want to make the numbers as small
as possible, to make our calculations ‘simpler’.
6
Let’s simplify 24 :
Step 1: Find all the factors of the numerator and the
denominator.
Factors of 6 Factors of 24
1 6 1 24
2 3 2 12
3 8
4 6
Step 2: Find the highest common factor of the 2 numbers.
The highest factor shared by 6 and 24 is 6.
Step 3: Let’s take our fraction and divide each number by the
highest common factor (HCF).
Numerator : 6 ÷ 6=1Denominator :24 ÷ 6=4
1
So, our new simplified fraction is 4
(We can check our answers by checking that the first and last
fractions are equal, work out the values by division.)
Follow the steps above to simplify the following fractions:
Fractions show parts of whole numbers and represent division.
3
For example, 7 is the same as 3÷ 7.
The top number is called the numerator, the bottom number
is called the denominator.
3
1a) What is the denominator of the fraction 8 ?
1
1b) What is the numerator of the fraction 11 ?
1
shows one part of a whole, which has been evenly split in to
4
4 parts:
1 2 3 4
2
shows 2 parts of a whole, which has been evenly split into 5
5
parts:
1 2 3 4 5
3
2a) Shade 4 of the space below.
3
2b) Shade 3 of the space below. What’s strange about this?
, Equivalent fractions are written differently, even though they
1
are exactly the same. For example, work out the values of 2
2
and 4 …
1 2
We can say that 2 = 4 .
1 2
So 2 is the simplified version of 4 .
To simplify a fraction, we want to make the numbers as small
as possible, to make our calculations ‘simpler’.
6
Let’s simplify 24 :
Step 1: Find all the factors of the numerator and the
denominator.
Factors of 6 Factors of 24
1 6 1 24
2 3 2 12
3 8
4 6
Step 2: Find the highest common factor of the 2 numbers.
The highest factor shared by 6 and 24 is 6.
Step 3: Let’s take our fraction and divide each number by the
highest common factor (HCF).
Numerator : 6 ÷ 6=1Denominator :24 ÷ 6=4
1
So, our new simplified fraction is 4
(We can check our answers by checking that the first and last
fractions are equal, work out the values by division.)
Follow the steps above to simplify the following fractions:
