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Introduction to Fractions 3310 Views


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Description:

Shmoop can get behind anything that helps you eat pie.

Language:
English Language
Common Core Standards:

Transcript

00:01

Fractions, a la Shmoop. Have you ever run into the prickly situation

00:11

of having four people... and only one pizza? Or tried baking a cake that didn't turn out

00:16

so well because you put exactly one cup of everything into it?

00:20

It certainly would be wonderful if everything came out to a nice, even number, but our world

00:24

doesn't work that way. To communicate and make sense of all those

00:28

bits and pieces in between, we rely on -- "fractions". For example, if you just broke up with your

00:34

boyfriend, you are now half of one couple. It's okay though - he was a half-wit anyway.

00:41

Let's start by breaking down one of these suckers.

00:43

At least give it a half-hearted attempt. Up top you've got your numerator.

00:45

And downstairs is the denominator. The denominator tells us how many total pieces

00:50

make up the whole... While the numerator says how many of those

00:54

pieces we're talking about. So if your mother tells you that you can have

00:57

one-half of a pizza...

00:59

...she is saying that you can have ONE of the TWO pieces left over.

01:03

She also seems to care very little about your nutritional health.

01:05

You couldn't at least start with a salad?

01:07

Anyways, a fraction may also appear in the form of a Mixed Number, which is a combination

01:13

of a whole number and a fraction.

01:15

It's like getting a "two"-fer. For example, if you're baking Shmooperdoodle

01:19

cookies, you'll see clearly that it asks for two-and-three-fourths cups of chocolate chips.

01:24

Yeah, we love chocolate that much.

01:27

It's the same as eleven-fourths, but there's probably not a level for that on your measuring

01:31

cup. Anytime we get a fraction where the numerator

01:34

is larger than the denominator... ...we call them "improper fractions."

01:38

Just don't invite these improper guys to a fancy dinner party.

01:41

Fractions help us better communicate what we want, because they give us a larger math

01:45

vocabulary. Without them, every football game would be

01:48

only one "game" long... ...it would be impossible to fairly divide

01:52

food... ...and Fellini's classic film "8 ½" would

01:55

simply be called "8." In short, life would be more difficult...

01:59

and we would only be having a fraction of the fun.

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