FRACTIONS - BASICS, UNDERSTANDING HALF, QUARTER, THREE-FOURTH, PROBLEMS, LINKS
Learn/Teach
Fractions through Fun Games
For details, see near
the bottom of this page.
Please study
Division.
That knowledge is a prerequisite here.
Understanding the concept of Half (1⁄2)
Example 1 :
Suppose you have two chocolates and
you want to share with your friend.
Then you keep one for yourself and
give one to your friend.
That means each one of you have
taken half of what you have.
Example 2 :
Suppose you have six chocolates with you
and again you want to share equally with your friend.
From the knowledge of
division,
you know
that 6÷2 = 3.
Hence each of you take 3 chocolates.
Again each one of you have taken
half of what you have.
In both these examples,
you are dealing with discrete
(individually distinct) elements (chocolates)
and half of the total is again a set of
discrete elements.
Example 3 :
Suppose you have a cake and you want to share it
with your friend. Then you cut it into two equal
parts, give one part to your friend and you take the
other part. Each one of you have got
half of the total cake.
Here half is a part (piece) of the total (cake).
Example 4 :
Suppose you and your friend go to
a restaurant and order for pizza.
Suppose the server brings pizza
which is cut into 4 equal pieces.
Then each one of you eat two pieces
of the pizza. How much of the pizza
did each one of you eat? Again it is
half of the total pizza.
In Examples 3 and 4, half is a
part (piece) of the total (cake/pizza).
Illustrated explanation of Half (1⁄2)
In the figure given below,
the part represented by
the black portion (green portion)
is Half (1⁄2) of the whole figure.
1⁄2
1⁄2
Exercise 1A : Understanding Half (1⁄2)
- What is half of 30 ?
- What part of 20 is ten ?
- What is half of 16 ?
- What is 7 half of ?
- Half of a number is 9. What is that number?
For Answers see at the bottom of the Page.
Exercise 1B : Understanding Half (1⁄2)
Fill in the Blanks in the Table
| Full | Half | Half of half |
| Ex: 20 | 10 | 5 |
| 36 | ---- | ---- |
| ---- | 14 | ---- |
| ---- | ---- | 6 |
For Answers see at the bottom of the Page.
Understanding Half (1⁄2), Quarter (1⁄4), Three-Fourth (3⁄4) and Relation between them
Look at the questions below.
What is plural of half?
How many halves are there in a whole?
How do we write a half?
Do you know the Answers?
The plural of half is halves.
There are two halves in a whole.
We write half as 1⁄2.
Instead of using the slash ("⁄") symbol,
we can use the vinculum ("−")
( i.e. horizontal line) symbol to denote half, as shown below.
1
2
Half is also called one by two.
Suppose you and your three friends want to draw pictures.
You bought 4 pencils and a chart.
You want to share the articles.
How many pencils dooes each one of you get?
I am sure you can answer it as 1.
But, how do you share the chart?
You have to cut it into 4 equal pieces and
each one of you gets a piece.
How many of the parts will make the whole chart?
What part of the whole chart is each
of the pieces with each one of you?
Each one of you received one of the four equal parts of the chart.
So what each one of you got is the quarter (1⁄4) of the chart.
What part of the total pencils did each one of you get?
Again it is 1⁄4, called quarter or one by four.
How many quarters of the chart did you and
one of your friends together take?
Two quarters.
What part of the whole chart are they?
Half
How many quarters make one half?
Two
How many quarters did you and two of your friends together
receive?
3 quarters.
Do you know what it is called?
If a whole is divided into four equal parts and
three such parts are taken, it is called three-fourths.
We write it as 3⁄4.
Illustrated explanation of Half (1⁄2), Quarter (1⁄4), Three-Fourth (3⁄4) and Relation between them
In the figure given below, the part represented
by the black portion is Quarter (1⁄4) and the
green portion is Three-Fourth (3⁄4) of the whole figure.
As you can see, Three-Fourth (3⁄4) is 3 times Quarter (1⁄4)
and by comparing with the previous figure given above,
we can say Half (1⁄2) is two times Quarter (1⁄4).
1⁄4
3⁄4
Exercise 2 : Understanding Half, Quarter, Three Fourths.
- What is 1⁄4 + 1⁄4 ?
- What is 1⁄4 + 1⁄4 + 1⁄4 + 1⁄4 ?
- What is 1⁄4 + 1⁄4 + 1⁄4 ?
- What is 3⁄4 - 1⁄4 ?
- What is 1 - 1⁄4 ?
- What is 3⁄4 + 1⁄4 ?
- What is 3⁄4 - 1⁄2 ?
- What is 1 - 1⁄2 ?
- What is 1⁄2 - 1⁄4 ?
- You have read 1⁄2 of the book.
How much is yet to be read by you ?
- A bag contains half kg sweets and quarter kg chocolates.
What is the total weight in the bag ?
For Answers see at the bottom of the Page.
Here we have understood the concept of
half, quarter, three fourth and relation between them.
To understand fractions in general,
to know about numerator and denominator,
and to know about like and unlike fractions,
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
general Introduction.
To know about
Proper, Improper and Mixed fractions,
Conversion of improper to mixed
and Conversion of mixed to improper
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Conversion Problems.
To understand what an equivalent fraction is,
to convert a given one to the one of
required numerator/denominator,
to test whether two given ones are equivalent or not,
and to reduce a fraction to lowest terms or simplest form
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Equivalent or not.
For learning about comparing two fractions
and arranging given set in ascending or
descending order
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Comparing.
To learn, how to add fractions of like denominators
and adding ones with unlike denominators,
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Adding.
To learn, how to subtract fractions of like denominators
and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators,
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Subtracting.
To learn about finding products of fractions,
multiplicative inverse of a fraction, the operation 'of'
on a fraction
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Multiplying.
To learn about Dividing fractions,
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Dividing.
To learn about the order of performing the operations such as
Brackets, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction
in simplifying numerical expressions involving fractions
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
Simplifying.
To learn about the application of all the
knowledge we gained to solve word problems
with solved examples and exercises with answers
go to
word Problems.
Learning/Teaching Math Can Be Fun
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Answers to Exercise 1A : Understanding Half (1⁄2)
- 15
- half
- 8
- 14
- 18
Answers to Exercise 1B : Understanding Half (1⁄2)
| Full | Half | Half of half |
| Ex: 20 | 10 | 5 |
| 36 | 18 Ans | 9 Ans |
| 28 Ans | 14 | 7 Ans |
| 24 Ans | 12 Ans | 6 |
Answers to Exercise 2 : Understanding Half, Quarter, Three Fourths.
- 1⁄2
- 1
- 3⁄4
- 1⁄2
- 3⁄4
- 1
- 1⁄4
- 1⁄2
- 1⁄4
- 1⁄2
- 3⁄4 kg
|
