Division of fractions
- Author:
- Theresa Heng, sm.besharat, mmikusa
Patrick was an average Primary 5 student. He had just finished spending much time learning to add and subtract fractions and was also learning to multiply fractions. So when he was introduced to the "invert and multiply" algorithm he decided to do something that makes more sense. Patrick said "well you need a common denominator for fractions" so whenever he saw one fraction divided by another his first step was to make sure they had common denominators. Then he said you do like with multiplication: you divide the two top numbers and divide the two bottom numbers. Example 6/8 divided by 1/2 would be done by first getting common denominators 6/8 divided by 4/8, then Patrick would write 6/4 / 8/8 so he would then write 6/4 / 1 or just 6/4.
Investigate Patricks method both with paper pencil and also with this tool. Be able to give an argument that supports or refutes Patrick's method.
Division of fractions