/en/fractions/adding-and-subtracting-fractions/content/ Show Multiplying fractionsA fraction is a part of a whole. In the last lesson, you learned how to add and subtract fractions. But that’s not the only kind of math you can do with fractions. There are times when it will be useful to multiply fractions too. Click through the slideshow to learn how to write a multiplication problem with fractions. Try This!Try setting up the multiplication problem below. Don't worry about solving it yet! A recipe calls for 2/3 of a cup of milk. You want to cut the recipe in half. Note: Although our example says the correct answer is 2/3 x 1/2, remember, with multiplying order does not matter. 1/2 x 2/3 would also be correct. Solving multiplication problems with fractionsNow that we know how to set up multiplication problems with fractions, let's practice solving a few. If you feel comfortable multiplying whole numbers, you're ready to multiply fractions. Click through slideshow to learn how to multiply two fractions. Try This!Try solving the multiplication problems below. Multiplying a fraction and a whole numberMultiplying a fraction and a whole number is similar to multiplying two fractions. There's just one extra step: Before you can multiply, you'll need to turn the whole number into a fraction. This slideshow will show you how to do it. Click through the slideshow to learn how to multiply a fraction and a whole number. Try This!Try solving the multiplication problems below. Dividing fractionsOver the last few pages, you've learned how to multiply fractions. You might have guessed that you can divide fractions too. You divide fractions to see how many parts of something are in something else. For example, if you wanted to know how many fourths of an inch are in four inches, you could divide 4 by 1/4. Let's try another example. Imagine a recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, but your measuring cup only holds 1/3, or one-third, of a cup. How many thirds of a cup should you add? We'll need to find out how many thirds of a cup are in three cups. In other words, we'll need to divide three by one-third. We'd write the problem like this: 3 ÷ 1/3 Try This!Try setting up these division problems with fractions. Don't worry about solving them yet! A recipe calls for 3/4 of a cup of water. You only have a 1/8 measuring cup. Solving division problems with fractionsNow that we know how to write division problems, let's practice by solving a few. Dividing fractions is a lot like multiplying. It just requires one extra step. If you can multiply fractions, you can divide them too! Click through the slideshow to learn how to divide a whole number by a fraction. Try This!Try solving these division problems. Don't worry about reducing the answer for now. Dividing two fractionsWe just learned how to divide a whole number by a fraction. You can use the same method to divide two fractions. Click through the slideshow to learn how to divide with two fractions. Try This!Try solving these division problems. Don't worry about reducing the answer for now. Multiplying and dividing mixed numbersHow would you solve a problem like this? As you learned in the previous lesson, whenever you're solving a problem with a mixed number you'll need to convert it into an improper fraction first. Then you can multiply or divide as usual. Using canceling to simplify problemsSometimes you might have to solve problems like this: Both of these fractions include large numbers. You could multiply these fractions the same way as any other fractions. However, large numbers like this can be difficult to understand. Can you picture 21/50, or twenty-one fiftieths, in your head? 21/50 x 25/14 = 525/700 Even the answer looks complicated. It's 525/700, or five hundred twenty-five seven-hundredths. What a mouthful! If you don't like working with large numbers, you can simplify a problem like this by using a method called canceling. When you cancel the fractions in a problem, you're reducing them both at the same time. Canceling may seem complicated at first, but we'll show you how to do it step by step. Let's take another look at the example we just saw. Step 1First, look at the numerator of the first fraction and the denominator of the second. We want to see if they can be divided by the same number. In our example, it looks like both 21 and 14 can be divided by 7. Step 2Next, we'll divide 21 and 14 by 7. First, we'll divide our top number on the left: 21. 21 ÷ 7 = 3 Then we'll divide the bottom number on the right: 14. 14 ÷ 7 = 2 We'll write the answers to each problem next to the numbers we divided. Since 21 ÷ 7 equals 3, we'll write 3 where the 21 was. 14 ÷ 7 equals 2, so we'll write 2 where the 14 was. We can cross out, or cancel, the numbers we started with. Our problem looks a lot simpler now, doesn't it? Step 3Let's look at the other numbers in the fraction. This time we'll look at the denominator of the first fraction and the numerator of the second. Can they be divided by the same number? Notice they can both be divided by 25! You might have also noticed they can both be divided by 5. We could use 5 too, but generally when you are canceling, you want to look for the biggest number both numbers can be divided by. This way you won't have to reduce the fraction again at the end. Step 4Next, we'll cancel just like we did in step 2. 50 ÷ 25 = 2 Then we'll divide the top number on the right: 25. 25 ÷ 25 = 1 We'll write the answers to each problem next to the numbers we divided. Step 5Now that we've canceled the original fractions, we can multiply our new fractions like we normally would. As always, multiply the numerators first: 3 x 1 = 3 Then multiply the denominators: 2 x 2 = 4 So 3/2 x 1/2 =3/4, or three-fourths. Step 6Finally, let's double check our work. 525/700 would have been our answer if we had solved the problem without canceling. If we divide both 525 and 700 by 175, we can see that 525/700 is equal to 3/4. We could also say that we're reducing 525/700 to 3/4. Remember, canceling is just another way of reducing fractions before solving a problem. You'll get the same answer, no matter when you reduce them. /en/fractions/converting-percentages-decimals-and-fractions/content/ |