Fractions are used to represent “parts” of something.

Examples: all must be guessed with drag a drops

• When a pizza is cut into 8 equal portions, each portion is a “part” of the pizza and can be represented by the fraction 1/8.
• 15 minutes is equal to the quarter of an hour. This part of an hour can be represented by the fraction 1/4.
• When you take 1 egg from a dozen eggs carton box, the part of the box you are using is the fraction 1/12.
• Many country flags are vertical tricolour with three stripes. For example the French flag is red, blue, and white. Each strip is the part 1/3. What about the US Flag? how may horizontal stripes (13)? Are they all equal in width? What is the fraction associated with one red stripe? 1/13.
• Percentages can also be represented by a fraction. For example, a discount of  50 percent is represented by the fraction 1/2, meaning that the price has been cut into 2 parts, and resulting is a  half price.

Fractions can be convenient way to represent parts. They are also incredibly effective at calculation because Mathematicians have found universal rules on how to perform basic calculation such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions.

For example, what happens if we want to add or subtract parts? It can made easier by using fractions.

Let’s try to see if we can figure out what is the value of one third plus one fourth for the following:

an hour?

a dozen egg box?

a pizza?

Mathematicians like to use them is because the a horizontal bar as it makes calculations more easy to perform.