Cameron a

Question

Jack says that when dividing a unit fraction by a whole number, the result will always be smaller than the divisor. Do you agree or disagree? Provide at least 1 example to help justify your thinking?

Answer 1

Yes this statement is very accurate. Lets take a look at why

A unit fraction is a fraction with 1 as the numerator....

so lets take the unit fraction 1/3 for example

In this case the divisor is 3

Ok so lets walk through this

If we take

1/3 ÷ 4

note that 4 is the same thing as 4/1

so we can rewrite the above expression as

1/3 ÷ 4/1

^{this is the same as}

^{1/3 X 1/4}

^{1/12 and this is much smaller than the divisor of 3}

Answer 2

Hi Cameron!

I would agree with Jack. For example:

1/2 ÷ 2 =

1/2 × 1/2 = 1/4 ... 1/4 is smaller than 2

Or

1/5 ÷ 5 =

1/5 × 1/5 = 1/25 ... 1/25 is smaller than 5

**To divide fractions, multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction**

I hope this helps! Please consider booking a lesson if you need further help.