Equivalent Fraction

Before we start the lesson we need a throw back.

Review the follow:

• Factoring

Let start by defining the topic:

Equivalent Fraction – are fraction that have the same value.

For the mean time I want you to remember this and keep it in mind.

So let us check the example:

So how did this happen? To understand it we need to visualize the fraction. Let us draw the given fraction into a box.

The 3 box are all equal in size and the only difference are the number of part they are cut.

1. The first box is cut into 2 part and shaded 1 that is ½.
2. The second box is cut into 4 parts and shaded 2 which is ²/₄.
3. The third box is cut into 8 part and shaded 4 which is ⁴/₈.

As you can see ½ , ²/₄ , ⁴/₈ are all equal in size, therefore are all the same. This is true for all the equivalent fraction.

But we cannot always draw a box to check an equivalent fraction. So how do we know if they are equivalent? To check the two fraction we use a method called Cross Multiplication. How do you do it? Here is a 2 easy step.

Step 1: Simply multiply the numerator of the first fraction to the denominator of the second fraction. Do the same to the numerator of the 2nd fraction and denominator of the 1st.

Step 2: Compare the two product. If the result is the same then the two fraction are equivalent, if not, therefore they are not equal.

Going back to the definition, we prove that both ½ and ²/₄ are the same value, and therefore an Equivalent Fraction.

Note:

You can only use this comparing proper fraction and improper fraction. We use different method for mixed number.

More Example

 

What if we want to know the equivalent fraction of a given fraction? We can do this by doing 1 step.

Step 1: Multiply both numerator and denominator by the same number.

The given is ¼:

Therefore,

Was that pretty easy?

Click here for more example.

Exercise:

I. Instruction: Write true if the two fraction are Equivalent Fraction and false if not.

II. Instruction: Find an equivalent fraction of the the given.

Answer key

Pointers:

• To know if fraction are equivalent the 2 step are:
  – Step 1: Cross multiply the numerator and denominator of the two fraction.
  – Step 2: Compare the product.
• To know the equivalent fraction of a given simply:
  – Step 1: Multiply both top and bottom by the same number.

So how was it easy? Ready for a challenge?

Set 1

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