Mathematical Fractions

All ages · Maths

A fraction tells you how many equal parts something has been cut into, and how many of those parts you are talking about. The bottom number says how many equal pieces the whole was split into, and the top number says how many are shaded. That is why one half, one third and one fourth each shade a different amount of the same circle: the more pieces you cut, the smaller each piece becomes. Notice too that the shape does not matter, because a circle, a strip and a square can all show two fifths as long as their parts are the same size.

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Examples

Cutting a pizza into four equal slices and eating one of them, which is one fourth of the pizza.
Sharing a chocolate bar of five squares with a friend and taking two squares, which is two fifths of the bar.

Key takeaways

The bottom number counts the equal parts, the top number counts the parts you take.
The more equal parts you cut the whole into, the smaller each part is.