| Basic Fraction Concepts | |
| By Tina Shiplet |
| The most common definition is that a fraction is a part of a whole. For example, if I bring home a whole pie and my family eats part of it, I have a fraction of a pie left. |
| Basically, a fraction is a division problem. It means that there is something divided into parts and some of the parts are missing. | |
| Yes. A fraction can represent a ratio or proportion. Like the Trident commercial that says “4 out of 5 dentists surveyed…”, the number of dentists who prefer Trident can also be represented as 4/5. |
| Knowing that a fraction is a division problem is helpful when changing the fraction to a decimal number or a percent. For example, ¾ can be expressed as 3 ÷ 4, 0.75 or 75%. Try it on a calculator. Then try a few others like 2/3, 5/6 or 4/5. |
What are the parts of a fraction?
| A fraction has 3 parts, the numerator, the division bar and the denominator. |
| The denominator represents how many equal parts something is divided into. | |
| The numerator represents how many parts of the whole are available. | |
| The division bar is a division symbol. It’s useful for converting fractions. |
| Using the same example, we can convert 3/8 to a decimal number by dividing the numerator by the denominator, 3 ÷ 8 = 0.375. |
| Proper fractions are what we are used to seeing like 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, etc. | |
| Proper fractions are less than one or less than a whole. | |
| Proper fractions have a numerator that is less than the denominator. |
| Improper fractions look strange like 9/3, 5/2 or 15/6. | |
| Improper fractions are equal to or greater than one or more than a whole. | |
| Improper fractions have a numerator that is more than the denominator. | |
| Improper fractions should be converted to a mixed number or a whole number. |
| A mixed number is a whole number (like 1, 4, 9, etc.) written next to a fraction. | |
| Examples: 2 ¾ or 9 ½ |