Finding fractions on number lines. Look at this number line. It starts at zero
and its endpoint is 10. We can fill it in with whole numbers. What about this
number line? There are no whole numbers between 0 & 1, but we can use this space
to represent fractions. Before we start finding fractions on number lines, let's
review a few important points about fractions. A fraction has a numerator and
a denominator. The denominator tells us how many equal parts the whole has been
divided into. The denominator in this fraction is 2, so it tells us that a whole
has been divided into two equal parts.
The numerator tells us how many of these parts we have in this fraction.
The numerator is telling us we have 1 of these equal parts. The fraction is
one-half. Let's look at another example: here we have a sandwich that has been
cut into 4 equal parts. That means the denominator will be 4.
Each one of the equal parts is 'one fourth', or 'one quarter'. If someone were to be given 3 of those parts they
would have 3/4 of the whole sandwich.
Okay, so back to number lines. Let's start by finding the fraction 3/4 on
a number line.
The starting point of our number line is 0, and the ending point is 1.
This '1' refers to 1 whole. Now think about 3/4 of the sandwich.
We know that 3/4 is less than 1 whole. That means the fraction must go
somewhere between the 0 and the 1. Looking at the denominator, we can see
that the whole has been split into 4 equal parts.
Just like the sandwich, we need to split the whole represented on this number line
into 4 equal parts. Now we need to look to the numerator to work out how
many fourths, or quarters, we have.
We have 3. let's count along: 1/4... 2/4... 3/4.
We have found the fraction 3/4 on this number line.
Here's another fraction for us to find on a number line: two-fifths. Here is our
number line.
We know that two-fifths is less than 1, so let's go ahead and fill in our start
point: 0, and our end point 1. From the start point to the end point of our
number line is 1 whole.
The denominator is 5, which tells us that the whole has been split into 5
equal parts. Let's divide the whole on our number line into 5 equal parts.
Our numerator tells us that we have two-fifths.
Let's count along: 1/5... 2/5. We have found 2/5 on the number line.
Here is example. Here we have a number line and a marker. The marker is between 0 & 1 so it
can't be a whole number. It must be a fraction. Let's work out what fraction
belongs here. 1 whole has been divided equally into 3 equal parts, so each
of these parts represents 1/3. 1/3... 2/3. This marker is pointing to 2/3.
Finding fractions on a number line is easy!
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