What are fractions, and what do they mean?

 
 
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What is a fraction, and what do the individual pieces mean?

A fraction may look like a completely different kind of number, but the way we need to think about it is just as “part of a whole”.

A fraction always has two numbers: the top number, which is called the “numerator,” and the bottom number, which is called the “denominator.”

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A fraction looks like this:

???\frac23???

where ???2??? is the numerator and ???3??? is the denominator. A fraction also represents the division of the numerator by the denominator. Since in math we can’t divide by ???0???, this means that the denominator of a fraction can’t ever be ???0???. So we can say that ???2/3??? is “???2??? divided by ???3???” or “???2??? over ???3???.”

Let’s use an example with pizza. Let’s say I have a whole pizza that I want to split with my friend. We’re going to split the pizza evenly, and I want to use a fraction to express how much of the pizza I get to eat.

Let’s just say up front that the denominator of the fraction will be the number of pieces I cut the pizza into, and the numerator of the fraction will be the number of pieces I personally get to eat.

So if I want to split the pizza equally with my friend, I’ll cut the whole pizza into two pieces. Because I’m cutting it into two pieces, I put a ???2??? in the denominator of the fraction:

???\frac{}{2\text{ pieces total}}???

After I cut it into two pieces, I give her one of the pieces, and I personally get to keep the other piece. Since I get to keep one piece, I put a ???1??? in the numerator of the fraction:

???\frac{1\text{ piece for me}}{2\text{ pieces total}}???

So I get to eat ???1??? of the ???2??? pieces, and “???1??? of ???2???” or “???1??? out of ???2???” is the fraction

???\frac12???

If we write a fraction on its own, we write it like we just did, with the numerator above the denominator. But if we write a fraction within a line of text, we write it with a slash as ???1/2???.

 
 

How to build and understand the meaning of a fraction


 
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Expressing real-life values in terms of fractions

Example

If a store is ???4??? miles from my home and I’ve already walked ???3??? miles, express my progress as a fraction.

Since I have to walk a total of ???4??? miles, I put a ???4??? in the denominator of the fraction.

???\frac{}{4\text{ miles total}}???

Since I’ve already walked ???3??? of those miles, I put a ???3??? in the numerator of the fraction.

???\frac{3\text{ miles I've walked}}{4\text{ miles total}}???

So the portion of the walk that I’ve completed is ???3/4???.


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A fraction always has two numbers: the top number, which is called the “numerator,” and the bottom number, which is called the “denominator.”

Here’s a table that summarizes how to describe some simple fractions.

names for simple fractions

Percent

When you hear the word “percent”, think “divided by ???100???” in order to turn the percent value into a fraction. So ???50\%???, expressed as a fraction is ???50/100???, and ???76\%??? is the same as ???76/100???.

 
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