Fractions

What is a fraction?


Quite simply a fraction describes a quantity of something, just like any other number.

Imagine sitting in a bar, if you buy one drink then that's what you have - 1 whole drink. But then, after you've drank a quarter of the drink you have 3/4 left. If you drink another quarter of the drink then you have 1/2 left.

Fractions are just a way of dealing with these types of quantities.

Fractions are written as two numbers, one above the other as follows:

In this example, this amount is equal to 3 divided by 4, or 0.75. The number on the top of a fraction is called the numerator and the number on the bottom of a fraction is called the denominator.

The number on the bottom, or the denominator just describes how many parts the thing it describes is broken up into. Meanwhile, the numerator describes how many parts you have.

So, if a drink glass is divided into 4 equal parts and you've already drank one of those parts then you have 3 parts left, out of the total of 4 parts, so you have ...



There are a few basic things you've got to learn about fractions - simplifying, adding & subtracting, multiplying and dividing ...