Introduction to fractions Let's take an orange. If I ask you to share it with your friend, you will share it equally.

So, you will have one half and your friend will have one half. Let's see how this helps us to learn fractions. Totally we have 2 parts of an orange. Out of the 2 parts you will have one part. We can represent this as 1 . 2

Definition of fraction: A number representing some part of a whole or part of a set. In simple terms, a fraction is a part of a whole. a A quotient in the form , where 'a' and 'b' are real numbers. b Example Fraction of orange you have is,

What if you have a chocolate cut into six equal parts?

1 1 ----------> One part is of the chocolate. 6 6

5 5 ---------> Five parts are of the chocolate. 6 6

But if it's too delicious to give away, then you would have

6 of the chocolate. 6 6 -----> If all the six parts are put together 6 make the whole chocolate. So

they 6 =1. 6 Here are all the fractions you can make. 1 6 2 6

Let's see how to name a fraction. 1 we call it as one third. 3 2 we call it as two thirds. 3 The naming of each fraction falls according to the top and the bottom number. If the top number is '1', we call it in singular. Example

1 we call it as one fifth. 5 If the top number is more than one, we call it in plural. Example 2 we call it as two fifths. 5 Let me give you a table which would help you to remember the fractions in words. Fraction 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 Word One half (A half) One third One quarter One fifth One sixth One seventh One eighth One ninth One tenth Plural --thirds quarters fifths sixths sevenths eighths ninths tenths

It's easy to make out the words, apart from the first four. All the other fractions are like the numbers but with a 'th' sound added at the end. Even easier is making the plurals, as long as you are careful with the plural of Just add an 's' at the end of the other fractions. Practice problems Write the fraction of shaded region and unshaded region of each picture in number and word forms. 1 . 2

Fraction of shaded region is ________________________ Fraction of shaded region in words is _________________ Fraction of unshaded region is ______________________ Fraction of unshaded region in words is _______________

Fraction of shaded region is ________________________ Fraction of shaded region in words is _________________ Fraction of unshaded region is ______________________ Fraction of unshaded region in words is _______________ Types of Fractions Proper fraction 3 . 6 Here, the numerator is smaller than the denominator.

T The fraction of shaded region is

These kind of fractions are called proper fractions. Definition: A fraction with the numerator (top number) smaller than the denominator (bottom number) is called as a proper fraction. Improper fraction Here, the shaded parts are 7. As both the squares are identical and both are divided into equal parts, we take the total parts as 4. So the fraction of shaded region would be,

7 -------> Seven fourths or seven quarters. 4 Definition: A fraction with numerator (top number) larger than or equal to the denominator (bottom number) is called as an improper fraction. Examples 3 5 , 3 2 Mixed numbers Consider the same example. We can see that we have one whole square and 3 parts of the other square are shaded. So, we can write this in the other form also. It's written as, 1 1 3 and read as one and three fourths. 4

3 3 = 1 + and the plus ('+') symbol is read as 'and'. 4 4

Definition: If a fraction has a whole number part and a fractional part, then the fraction is called as a mixed number. Unit fractions Here only one part is shaded. So the fraction of shaded part is 1 . 8

Definition: Unit fraction is a fraction where the numerator is 1. Like fractions Definition: Like fractions are fractions with the same denominator. Example

1 3 7 , and are like fractions where the denominators are same. 8 8 8 Unlike fractions Definition: Unlike fractions are fractions with different denominators. Example 1 2 3 , and are unlike fractions where the denominators are different. 3 5 7 Practice problems Write the type of the fractions given below. 1) 2) 3) 2 __________________________________________________ 7 6 __________________________________________________ 6 8 __________________________________________________ 3 4 _________________________________________________ 6

4) 2 5) 6) 7)

1 __________________________________________________ 3 4 3 and _________________________________________ 7 7 5 2 and _________________________________________ 9 7 Equivalent fractions

Let's take two identical chocolates. Let's cut one chocolate into 6 equal parts and another one into 2 equal parts.

Can you see the three parts of one chocolate is same as half of the other chocolate? 3 1 equals . 6 2

You can write this in fraction as

These fractions are known as equivalent fractions because they have same value. You can get equivalent fraction for any fraction. For that, you need to follow these steps. Have 2 for example. 3

Step 1: Write the fraction. 2 3 Step 2: Take any natural number. (say 2) Step 3: Multiply the natural number with the numerator and the denominators seperately. 2 X 2 4 ---= -------3 X 2 6 Now, 2 4 and are equivalent fractions. 3 6

Practice problems Are these two fractions 3 9 and similar? 4 12 3 . 5

Give an equivalent fraction for