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3 Working with Fractions

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[Music]
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in today's lesson we are going to
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continue to look at some prerequisite
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skills and we're going to be looking at
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working with fractions
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so we're going to be looking at how to
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add subtract multiply and divide
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fractions
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what we're going to do first
Mathagon
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is we're going to go to mathagon and
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mathagon is a
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kind of
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digital or it's a website that has
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digital manipulatives and what we're
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going to be doing is we're going to be
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working with a tangram so if you go to
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this website matagon.org tangram you can
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access
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what we see here
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as well if you go to the d2l home page
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you will see the little mathagon logo it
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looks up like this on that kind of
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interactive home page or that
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interactive uh slide that's directly on
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the main home page so if you click on
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that you can go there as well and you
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should be able to find
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this
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um tangram
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so the idea is
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what i want you to do first is just
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click on any image on the bottom here it
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could be in basic image it could be one
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of the animals
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could be some geometry or advanced
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i'm going to click on an animal say a
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cat and what i want you to do is using
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the images are using the
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um the shapes that we have here i want
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you to try to basically recreate
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the shape that you chose
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as best as possible
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and again
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try your best
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so for example i'm going to try to make
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this cat here
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as best as i can
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i think i can see
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how i can do that oops
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so then here we see i've made the cat
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again you can choose whatever image you
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want again it's just to get an idea to
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play around with these shapes
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and so on so it doesn't have to be
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perfect but you get the idea
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what we're going to be doing however
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is playing around with this main shape
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so we're going to look at the tangram
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problem
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and the idea is
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is that if this entire shape
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has an area of one
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what is the area of each individual
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shape so what is the area
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of
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this large triangle
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this large triangle here these smaller
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triangles this medium triangle this
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parallelogram the square
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so i want you to take some time play
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around with these you can use these you
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can rotate them around you can
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put them over top of shapes however you
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want
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to try to determine what is the area of
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each shape
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so again i'm going to pause the video i
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want you to try this on your own try to
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figure out what is the area of each
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shape
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what you should find
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as you go through if you play around
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with this what you should find is that
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the large triangles
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are both
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one quarter each
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the small triangles are 1 16 each the
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square is 1 8
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the parallelogram is 1 8
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as well as the medium-sized triangle
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and again how we can figure that out
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well i can see that these two large
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triangles make up half of my square
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so combined their half
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then individually they're a quarter
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so individually one's a quarter
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i can see that
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two of these small triangles make up
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the square
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so whatever
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each individual triangle is
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or the small ones that double them or
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multiply by two should be the square or
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half the square should be the small
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triangles
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i can also see that each small triangle
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it takes two small triangles to make up
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a parallelogram which means that the
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parallelogram and the square have the
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same area
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as well i can see that
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the medium triangle is made up of two
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small triangles as well so the
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parallelogram the square
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and the small triangle or medium
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triangle need to have the same area
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and if i play around with this
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shape or these small triangles i can see
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hopefully
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that it takes one two three
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four
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four small triangles
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to make a large triangle
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so a quarter divided into four
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is 1 16.
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so that's how i can reason through this
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you may have done something differently
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found each one individually or maybe you
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found what the small triangles were
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first and then worked your way up
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from there but however you found it you
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should find
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that
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these are the areas of the individual
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shapes
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now using this understanding or using
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these areas
Parallelogram
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i want to figure out what is the area of
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a small triangle
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and a parallelogram together
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so again remember the small triangle
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was 1 16 area
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the large triangle
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was 1 8.
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so what would be the area as a fraction
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of these two shapes added together
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well you might reason well the
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parallelogram is actually two small
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triangles
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so it's actually
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1 16 here
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oops let me go meter
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and 1 16 here
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so added these up
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1 16
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plus 1 16 plus 1 16 equals 3 16
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you may also be able to add fractions
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such as 1 16 plus 1 8
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and we're able to get 3 16 as well
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if you're able to do it this way
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and get 3 16 then you already know how
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to add
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fractions
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because you would have had to have done
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that correctly in order to get that same
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final answer if not and you did it the
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other way and reason through it like
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that that's okay we are going to be
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looking at how to add fractions in like
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in the second example as well
Area
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what is the area as a fraction of the
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two small triangles and one large
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triangle
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so again remember 1 16
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1 16
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and one quarter
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so again
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you can reason through it different ways
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you could say well there's four small
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triangles in the large one plus two
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small other ones
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so that would have to be
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6 16
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which we could reduce if we wanted to
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to 3 over 8
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or 3 8.
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you could reason through okay well two
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small triangles
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make up
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a medium triangle which is 1 8 and two
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medium triangles would fit into the
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large one
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so that would be another
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1 8 plus another 1 8.
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so again different ways you can reason
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through this
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whether it was
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1 16 plus 1 16 plus
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1 16 plus 1 16
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or maybe you did the 1 16
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plus 1 16 plus
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one quarter
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or you did
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1 8 plus 1 8
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plus 1 8.
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either method you did or either way you
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could try to reason through as long as
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you got three-eighths in the end that's
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okay you're using or you're
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understanding how to add fractions in
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some shape or form
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what is the area as a fraction of the
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large triangle minus the small triangle
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again
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1 16
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14
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different ways you can reason through
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this
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you could say well one large triangle is
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1 4 minus 1 16
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and subtract those fractions
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might be a little bit difficult because
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they are
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different fractions
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again you reason through well the large
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triangle has four small ones so the
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large triangle is actually 4 16
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minus 1 16
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which would equal 3 16.
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even if you do the other one you still
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get 3 16 as well and we will talk about
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how we can get that
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so again that could be how you reason
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through this
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either way you choose to do this you're
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still subtracting fractions and you're
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still doing it correctly if you get
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three sixteenths
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lastly how many small triangles fit into
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one large triangle
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what we know
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from playing around with the tangrams
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we know that there will be four
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triangles
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or four small triangles
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in
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one large triangle
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so we know from playing around and we
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had we had to reason that out to help us
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figure out what the area of the small
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triangle was in the first place
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right which was 1 16 again
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so if we wanted to write a mathematical
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calculation to answer this question
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if we wanted to find out how many small
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triangles fit into one large triangle
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right or basically i want to take this
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large triangle and break it up into
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groups the size of a small triangle
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that would be division
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so one quarter
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divided by 1 16.
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we know it has to work out and equal
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four
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because again we played around with the
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area we know that there are four small
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triangles in one large triangle
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now you may not know exactly how to
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divide that
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right but that's okay because that is
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what we are going to look at today
Types
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so adding and subtracting fractions
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before we begin there are three types of
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fractions that we are looking at
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right say for example seven ninths
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twelve sevenths and five and two thirds
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so we have three types of fractions
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right we have our proper fractions
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we have our improper
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and we have our mixed fractions
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so again hopefully you can see the
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difference
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the difference in the in improper
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fraction is that the numerator
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again top part
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is larger
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than the denominator
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so that what's that's what makes an
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improper fraction we have a mixed
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fraction
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because we have a whole number
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included as well as a fraction
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and our proper fraction is where the
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numerator is
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smaller than the denominator
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in this course i would recommend
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sticking to either proper or improper or
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not necessarily really going to be using
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mixed fractions
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in this course and we will talk later
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into into about halfway through the
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course in other units why we really
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stick to proper or improper
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but it is helpful to understand the
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different types and how to convert
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between them
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the main thing we're going to focus on
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though is adding and subtracting
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fractions
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so when we add and subtract fractions
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they must have the same
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denominator
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so they have to have the same
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denominator
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in order for us to add or subtract them
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and when we have the same denominator
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denominator then all we're doing is
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we're adding
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the numerators together so if i look at
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a for example two-fifths plus one-fifth
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the denominators are the same so i just
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have to add the top parts of my
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fractions or the numerators so two plus
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one
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equals three
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and the denominator stays the same
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if i look at example b
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my denominators are not the same
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i have three fourths
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plus one half
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so in this case i need to make the
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denominators the same
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this one's easy
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because
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2
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can become 4
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by multiplying so 2 times 2 equals 4.
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essentially what i'm doing is i'm trying
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to create an equivalent fraction or
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fraction that means the same thing as
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one-half
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but with a denominator of four
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so in this case i'm going to be
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multiplying
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so i'm going to multiply
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the denominator by 2.
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so if i rewrite this i'll have 3 over 4
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plus
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a new denominator 4
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but in order to keep my fraction
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equivalent i also need to multiply the
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top number
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by the same thing that i did on the
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bottom
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so in this case 1 times 2
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which is 2.
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so whenever we create an equivalent
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fraction we're going to be multiplying
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or in some cases we may be dividing but
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we're not going to be adding or
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subtracting to change that fraction
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whenever we change a fraction
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to another equivalent fraction we have
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to multiply or divide by the same number
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in this case we're multiplying both the
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numerator and denominator by two
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now i have an equivalent fraction
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that gives me a denominator of four
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the denominators in both of these
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fractions are the same so i can add
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these two together
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three over four plus two over four
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becomes five over four
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it leaves me with an improper fraction
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which is okay it's okay to leave it as
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this if you want to convert it to a
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mixed fraction you can
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but i'm not going to expect you to be
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able to do that or i'm not gonna sorry
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i'm not gonna require you to be able to
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do that
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if you do understand how to convert
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between an improper and mixed that's
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great um but again like i mentioned
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earlier
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in this course we're not going to
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really need to do that
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for c
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three-fourths minus one-third
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again because i'm adding or subtracting
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the fractions the denominators need to
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be the same
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however in this case i can't just turn
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one or multiply one fraction by a number
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to make it equivalent to the other
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i can't multiply 3 by anything to get to
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4 i can't multiply 4 by anything to get
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to 3.
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so i need to find
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an equivalent
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number or an equivalent fraction that
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both of these numbers can multiply to
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and basically i'm trying to find another
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factor
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of 4 and 3. so a number that 4 and 3
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both go into
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the easiest thing to do
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if you can't think of the number right
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away is
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multiply
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the one fraction by the denominator of
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the other
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so what i mean by that is
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i'm going to multiply one-third
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i'm gonna multiply both parts by four
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again i need to multiply both the
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numerator and the denominator by the
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same thing
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and in three-fourths i'm going to
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multiply it by
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three which was the denominator of the
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other one
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let me do it makes a little more sense
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so i'm multiplying both sides by three
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so three times three is nine four times
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three is twelve the minus isn't changing
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or the subtraction isn't changing
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1 times 4 is 4
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3 times 4 is 12.
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so all i've done is i've multiplied the
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one fraction
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by the denominator of the other
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so one by both parts by three and the
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other one both parts by four and i can
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see now that i have the same denominator
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which will allow me to subtract
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so nine minus four 4
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is 5
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the
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the denominator does not change
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so 5 over 12 is my answer
Multiplying
17:57
when we multiply fractions multiplying
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fractions is probably the easiest one
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because basically when we multiply
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fractions
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you multiply
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straight across
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so essentially what that means is is we
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have our numerator
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multiplied by our numerator
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and we have then our denominator
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multiplied by denominator
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so in this case
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for a fraction
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we're going to have 2 times 5
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over
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5 times 6
18:59
which works out to
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2 times 5 is 10
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5 times 6
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is 30
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so we get 10 over 30
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which we can reduce to 1 over 3
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because i can divide
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both parts
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by 10.
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again similar to what we talked about
19:21
before we're creating an equivalent
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fraction by either multiplying or
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dividing both the numerator and the
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denominator by the same number in this
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case because i want to reduce it to make
19:30
it smaller i'm going to be dividing in
19:33
this case i happen to be able to divide
19:34
both parts by 10.
More Practice
19:40
so some more practice with multiplying
19:42
fractions again we're multiplying
19:44
straight across
19:45
so your top two numbers eight times
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three
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i'm just going to write out the step to
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show what we're multiplying again if
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you're comfortable with this you don't
19:53
have to show this step
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8 times 3 is 24
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3 times 4 is 12.
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i can reduce this because i can actually
20:02
do 24 divided by 12 and reduce it to 2.
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for b
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i have negative 4 over 5 times 1 over 2.
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even with the negative we still treat it
20:17
the same way
20:18
multiply your numerators so negative
20:20
four times one
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divided by your denominators that are
20:25
multiplied so five times two
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here we get negative four over ten
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i can reduce this fraction by dividing
20:34
both parts by two
20:37
and i get negative two over five
20:41
if you're lucky enough depending on what
20:42
calculator you have you may actually be
20:44
able to put in fractions and it will
20:47
automatically
20:48
write it out or
20:50
display it in lowest terms when you do
20:52
the calculation so you might be lucky
20:54
enough to have that calculator already
20:57
if not again like i said
21:00
multiplying fractions is very fairly
21:02
straightforward and it may just be
21:04
reducing it that might be a little
21:05
difficult
21:10
when we're dividing fractions it is
21:12
still relatively easy but there's one
21:15
thing that we need to keep in mind so to
21:17
divide fractions we need to multiply by
21:20
the reciprocal
21:22
and what that means
21:25
is we flip
21:29
the second fraction
21:34
so we flip the second fraction and then
21:37
multiply
21:38
so what happens then
21:40
if i say for example i have 5 6 divided
21:43
by 3 7.
21:44
i need to multiply by the reciprocal so
21:47
the 5 over 6 doesn't change
21:50
this operation does change to
21:52
multiplying
21:54
and then i'm flipping the second
21:56
fraction so seven over three
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now i'm using my
22:03
my multiplying fractions um steps which
22:06
basically says i multiply the
22:08
denominators together and the numerators
22:10
so 5 times 7
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which is 35
22:16
6 times 3
22:18
which is 18.
22:22
i can reduce this again if i want to
22:26
actually
22:27
nope i cannot reduce it 35 over 18 is as
22:31
low as it goes
22:35
but that's how i divide fractions you
22:37
flip the second fraction and you
22:39
multiply
22:42
so let's work through one more example i
22:44
have three fourths divided by two thirds
22:48
i'm going to flip the second fraction so
22:50
i'm just going to rewrite everything i'm
22:52
going to flip the second fraction make
22:54
it 3 over 2
22:55
change the operation to multiplication
22:58
and now i'm just going to multiply my
23:00
numbers
23:01
multiply the tops 3 times 3 which is 9
23:05
multiply the bottoms 4 times 2
23:08
which is 8.
23:10
so i have 9 8.
23:11
if i really want to i can
23:13
convert this to an improper or to a
23:16
mixed fraction sorry
23:18
to make it 1 and 1 8
23:21
because it was an improper fraction with
23:23
9 8 but again like i said before not
23:26
necessary to convert it to a mixed
23:28
fraction in this course
23:32
so again the main concepts from this
23:34
lesson we're just reviewing how to add
23:37
and subtract fractions which is get the
23:39
same denominator
23:41
how to multiply fractions which is
23:44
multiplying the numerators and
23:46
multiplying the denominators together
23:48
and then finally dividing fractions
23:51
where you multiply by the reciprocal
23:53
which means you flip the second fraction
23:56
and then multiply them together
23:58
so again hopefully that's a review if
24:00
not um hopefully it is starting to kind
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of
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click and kind of re rejog your memory
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so please make sure you are practicing
24:10
this these concepts if you find you're
24:12
having difficulty with them
24:20
[Music]
24:28
you