Fractions

Mathematics Skills Guide

This is one of a series of guides designed to help you increase your confidence in
handling mathematics. In this guide you will find help with:

1. What are fractions? 2. Addition and subtraction

3. Multiplication 4. Division

There are often different ways of doing things in mathematics and the methods
suggested in the guides may not be the ones you were taught. If you are successful
and happy with the methods you use it may not be necessary for you to change
them. If you have problems or need help in any part of the work then there are a
number of ways you can get help.

For students at the University of Hull

 Ask your lecturers.
 You can contact a math Skills Adviser from the Skills Team on the email shown
below.
 Access more maths Skills Guides and resources at the website below.
 Look at one of the many textbooks in the library.

Web: www.hull.ac.uk/skills
Email: skills@hull.ac.uk
1. What are fractions?
1 3 9
Fractions such as 2 , 7 , 25 represent part of a unit. Whole numbers can be
2 16 90
represented as fractions such as , , but usually there is no advantage in doing
1 4 10
1 3 9
so. The fractions , , can be represented in diagrams:
2 7 25

fraction shaded 1 3 9
2 7 25

The bottom number in a fraction is called the denominator (and shows the number of
parts into which the shape is divided) and the top part is called the numerator (and
shows the number of parts shaded).

Proper fractions are those in which the numerator is less than the denominator
(such as 12 , 3 ). Proper fractions represent numbers less than 1.
19 7

Improper fractions have a numerator larger than the denominator (such as 23 ) and
19
these represent numbers larger than 1.

Mixed fractions are the sum of a whole number with a proper fraction, such as
4 , which is written as 1 4 .
1 19 19

Equivalent fractions are fractions with different denominators (and numerators)

having the same value. The following diagrams all have the same area shaded
although the shapes are not divided up into the same number of pieces. This means
that the fractions they represent are equal.

8 4 2
 
20 10 5
or dividing top and bottom by the same number gives
8 82 4 42 2
   
20 20  2 10 10  2 5

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It is often necessary to convert mixed fractions to improper fractions, and also to
convert improper fractions to mixed fractions.

Worked Examples
1) Convert 3 52 to an improper fraction.
3 52 can be represented as

which is equivalent to 17 .
5
In words - each unit is the same as 5 fifths, hence 3 units give 15 fifths.
so 3 52 gives 15 fifths plus 2 fifths a total of 17 fifths.
35  2
This can be written as 3 52  5
 17
5
.

2) Convert 6 95 to an improper fraction.

As 1 unit is 9 ninths, then 6 units is 6 × 9 = 54 ninths and so 6 95 is 54 ninths plus 5
69  5
ninths, a total of 59 ninths; so 6 95  9
 59
9

3) Convert 17 to a mixed fraction.

6
17 can be represented as
6

This is equivalent to 2 56
or each group of six 1 ths makes a whole one so 12 lots of 1 th gives 2 whole ones
6 6
and there are five 16 ths left over, a total of 2 56 .
or by division 17 ÷ 6 = 2 with remainder 5 so 17
6
 2 56

Exercise 1
1. Convert the following to improper fractions
a) 1 23 , b) 3 53 , c) 5 34 , d) 2 95 , e) 11 74
2. Convert the following to mixed fractions
a) 20
3
, b) 135
, c) 334
, d) 259
, e) 134
7

2. Addition and Subtraction

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You may have a calculator that does fractions. Unfortunately in many cases the
calculator gives the answer as a decimal rather than as a fraction!! There are at least
two ways of adding/subtracting fractions and you are advised to stick to the method
you know as long as you are being successful!
No matter which method you use you will have to change the fractions you are
adding or subtracting to fractions having the same denominator.

When faced with the question 2

3
 1
2
some students give the answer as 3
5
!
This can be checked by considering a diagram:

2  1  3
3 2 5
In the first 2 columns there are 3 shaded parts but not all of the same size and you
can see that 23  12 is greater than 1 so adding the denominators and the numerators
together certainly does not give the correct answer. The third column shows 3 for
5
comparison - you can see that it’s smaller than 23 !

To do the addition we need to find fractions equivalent to those given but having the
same denominators. 3 and 2 both go into a lot of numbers, without leaving a
remainder, for instance 120 or 1500 or 30 but the lowest number they both go into is
6 (this is called the Lowest Common Multiple or LCM).

In this case it is 3 × 2 but if you had 6 and 4 you would use 12 rather than 24.

2  2 1  3
2
3
 3  2
 64 and 12  2  3
 3
6

hence 2
3
 1
2
 4
6
 3
6
 7
6
 1 16

Examples
Note – method 1 is the ‘usual’ (and best) method but some people do use method 2!

1. Find the value of 1 94  2 52

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Method 1 Method 2 (Using improper fractions)
1 94  2 52  1  94  2  52  3  94  52
1 9  4 2 5  2
1 94  2 52  9
 5
L C M of 5 and 9 is 45, giving  13  12
9 5
45 29
1 94  2 52  3  95
 59
L C M of 9 and 5 is 45, giving
13  5 12  9
 3  20  18
45 45
1 94  2 52  9 5
 59
 3  38
45
 3 38
45  65  108  173  3 38
45 45 45 45

It is also a good idea to look at the fractions and estimate what you expect the
answer to be so that you can see if your answer is roughly correct. In this example
1 94  2 52 must be bigger than 3, it could be close to 1 12  2 12  4, so the answer of 3 38
45
seems to be about right.

2. Find the value of 3 56  1 83

Method 1 Method 2
 
3 56  1 83  3  56  1  83  3  56  1  83 3 56  1 83 
36  5
6

1 8  3
8
 2  56  83  23  11
6 8

L C M of 6 and 8 is 24, so L C M of 6 and 8 is 24, so

54 3 3 23  4 11  3
3 56  1 83  2  6  4  8  3 3 56  1 83  
6 4 83
 2  20  9  2 11
24 24 24  92  33  59  2 11
24 24 24 24
Estimate: 3 56  1 83 must be more than 2 as 5
6
is greater than 83 , so the answer of 2 11
24

seems to be of the right size.

3. Find the value of 1 23  2 15

1 4
5

It is much safer to do this as one sum and not, as often happens, in two parts. The
risk is that that first part is done and the second part gets forgotten!

Method 1 Method 2
1 23  2 15
1
 4
5
 1 10
15
 2 15
1
 12
15
1 23  2 15
1 4 
5
5  31  4
3 15 5
10  1  12  25  31  12
 1  15 15 15 15
25  31  12
  1  15  1  1 15
21 6  15

 6
 52  6  2
15 5
15

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Estimating the answer to 1 23  2 15
1  4 is a little more complex. Writing the question as
5

1 we can see that, as 4 is nearly 1, then 1 2  4 is well over 2 but less than 3
1 23  54  2 15 5 3 5

so 1 23  54  2 15
1 will be positive but less than 1. The answer 2 fits this.
5

In all cases both methods give the same answer – if they didn’t then one of them
must be incorrect.

Exercise 2
Work out the values of the following
1. 52  34 2. 87  56 3. 5  1
12 4

4. 1 12  34 5. 4 16  2 23 6. 3 5  1 14
4

7. 3 12  4 14  2 34 8. 2 94  1 23  5
6
9. 4 95  1 13  1 23
3 8  1 4  1 12 1 85
10. 1 12  3 15  1 34 11. 5 1 12. 10 12 6

3. Multiplication
Multiplying and dividing are very different from adding and subtracting and the
methods are also very different.

Consider 2
3
 85 . This can be read as 2
3
of 5
8
This means having 5 of something, dividing it into 3 parts and taking 2 of them as
8
shown in the diagram.

5 shaded
8

the 5 divided into 3

8

2 of the 5 shaded
3 8

which is the same as 10

24

25 25
so 25
3 8
 10
24
which can be seen as 3 8
 38
 10
24
Multiplying the numerators together gives the numerator of the product and, in the
same way, multiplying the denominators together gives the denominator.

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Examples
45
a) Multiply 4
7
by 5
8
: 4
7
 5
8
 78
 20
56
 5
14
This could be checked by using a diagram as above.

b) Multiply 1 74 by 5
8
: This can be worked as 1 lot of 85 plus 74 of 5
8
45 57
which is 1  85  4
7
 85  5
8
 78
 5
8
 20
56
 87
 20
56
 55
56

This can be done more easily by changing 1 74 to an improper fraction

1 74  5
8
then becomes 11
7
 5
8
so 1 74  5
8
 11
7
 5
8
 55
56
(a much better method)
4  2  5
c) Multiply together 4, 2,
7 3
5
7
: 4
7
 23  75  7  3  7
 147
40

11  4
d) Multiply 1 74 by 4 : 1 74  4  11
7 1
4  7 1
 44
7
 6 72

e) Multiply together 2 74 , 1 23 , 1
4
:
18  5  1
2 74  1 23  14  18 5 1 
7 3 4 7  3  4
 84
90  1 1
14

4. Division
12  4 can be written as 12 .
4
It means ‘how many lots of 4 are there in 12?’ or ‘how
many boxes holding 4kg can I fill from a box holding 12kg?’ - answer 3.

5
5
8
 can be written as
2
3
8
2
. It means ‘how many lots of 2
3
are there in 5
8
?’
3
This is not as difficult to work out as it may seem as long as you are careful. We
need to do something to make the bottom of the fraction as simple as possible. We
know that, as long we multiply or divide the top and bottom numbers of the fraction
by the same number we have equivalent fractions of the same value.

If we multiply 2 by 3 we get 2  3  6  1. So, if we multiply the top and the bottom

3 2 3 2 6
5 5 3 15 15
by 3 we get 8
 8 2
 1 
16 16
 15 .
2 2 2 3 1 16
3 3 2 1

5
In practice we notice that 8
2
 53
8 2
 15
16
( multiply the numerator by the inverse of
3
the denominator).

But beware of the trap of “to divide by a fraction turn it upside-down and multiply”.
You can’t apply this method directly to problems involving mixed fractions such as
3  1 56 .

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Note: The fraction 3 is called the (multiplicative) inverse of 2 . Any number (except
2 3
zero) has a multiplicative inverse. Note also that 23 is the multiplicative inverse of 3 .
2

Examples
a) Evaluate 3  1 56
To find the (multiplicative) inverse of 1 56 we must first express it as an improper
fraction:-
1 56  11 ,
6
so the (multiplicative) inverse of 1 56 is 6 .
11
3  1 56  3  11
6
 3 6
1 11
 18
11
 1 11
7

Note that this answer is reasonable as 3  1 56 is close to 3  2 = 1 12

b) Evaluate 3 75  4 53 :- 3 75  4 53  26
7
 23
5
 26  5
7 23
 130
161

c) Evaluate 7
12
 1 18 :- 7
12
 1 18  7
12
 89  7 8
12 9
there are (at least) two ways of dealing with the next stage

Method 1 Method 2
multiply, then cancel down cancel down, then multiply
7 8 78 78 72
12 9
 12  9
 56  14
108 27
7 8
12 9
 12  9
 39
 14
27
top and bottom have been divided top and bottom have been divided
by 4 at the end. by 4 giving smaller numbers to
multiply at the end.

7 6 7
d) Evaluate 15 12 8

Method 1 Method 2
7 6 7  187 55 7 6 7  187  55  187  8
15 12 8 12
8  187  8
12 55
15 12 8 12 8 12 55
187  8 187  8 187  2
  1496  12  55
 3  55
12  55 660
17  2
 374  34  2 15
4
  34  2 15
4
165 15 35 15

Note In both cases you divide by 4 and 11.

e) Evaluate 3 13  2 14  7 12  13 (Warning – don’t do it in bits!!)

3 13  2 14  7 12  1
3
 10
3
 9
4
 15
2
 1
3
 10
3
 9
4
 15
2  3
1
3
cancelling down by either method should give the same answer!!

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Exercise 3
Evaluate the following, writing your answers in as simple a form as possible
(cancelled down and as mixed numbers where appropriate).

1. 7
8
 54 2. 1 23  54 3. 6  12
4. 5
6
 3
4
5. 2 53  3 14 6. 5 17  3
6  7 5 2
7. 2 17  1 53  2 13 8. 1 95  1 13  34 9. 2 11 11 5

10. 4 83  1 85   3
4
 11. 6 23  14  15   2
12. 1 34  2 14  2 92  2 12

Answers
Exercise 1
1. a) 53 , b) 18 ,
5
c) 23 , d) 23 ,
4 9
e) 81
7
2. a) 6 23 , b) 2 53 , c) 8 4 , d) 2 79 ,
1 e) 19 17

Exercise 2
3 1 2 3 1
1. 1 20 2. 24
3. 3
4. 4
5. 1 12 6. 5 20
11 9. 1 95 1 7
7. 2 8. 1 18 10. 20
11. 8
12. 1 14

Exercise 3
7 4. 1 19 4
1. 10 2. 1 13 3. 12 5. 5
6. 1 75
7 9. 20 1
7. 8 8. 8 27 10. 5 11. 3 12. 2

We would appreciate your comments on this worksheet, especially if

you’ve found any errors, so that we can improve it for future use. Please
contact the Maths Skills Adviser by email at skills@hull.ac.uk

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The information in this leaflet can be made available in an alternative format on
request using the email above.

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