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Dividing Fractions 12952 Views


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Description:

Dividing fractions just means multiplying the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction. But why do your fractions need dividing to begin with? Did they get in a fight?

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English Language

Transcript

00:04

Dividing Fractions, a la Shmoop. They’ve just installed a new ride at the

00:09

carnival… called, "The Lunch Dispenser." All it does is flip you around for about 15

00:16

minutes.

00:17

Dividing fractions is something like this nauseating ride…

00:19

So how do we divide fractions? Assuming we don't have a meat cleaver handy?

00:25

Having fractions inside fractions looks… a little unstable.

00:29

Instead, we try to write them with the good old division sign.

00:33

Since division is the opposite of multiplication…

00:36

…what we do is multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction.

00:43

The reciprocal just means that we switch the numerator and denominator.

00:47

To take the reciprocal of the second fraction simply flip five-sixths and turn it around

00:52

into six-fifths and we get this…

00:56

Basically, the top becomes the bottom and the bottom becomes the top.

01:00

If we have a whole number, we say that its denominator is 1.

01:05

So 4 is the same as 4 over 1, which means that its reciprocal is one-fourth.

01:11

After we've found the reciprocal of the second fraction…

01:13

…we can multiply the two together. 3 times 6 is 18… and 4 times 5 is 20. Giving

01:19

us 18 twentieths.. Don't forget to simplify your answer as much

01:24

as you can. The simpler the better. Dividing both sides by two gives us nine-tenths.

01:29

Also, remember that when dividing fractions, we only find the reciprocal of the second

01:35

number. Once you get used to the turns and flips,

01:38

dividing fractions shouldn't be too hard.

01:40

In fact, with all that flipping and turning, you should be ready to ride "The Lunch Dispenser."

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