Learning Fractions

Fractions is an area that a lot of kids find hard to understand. One of the problems with fractions is that they have different meanings depending on the context.

For example, you can eat half an apple or cut an orange into fourths. But you can also put the number one-half on a number line, measure a line 3 1/2 cm long, or find a fourth of 24.

Once the concept of fractions as numbers and fractions as parts of a whole has been understood, your child will be well on their way to developing a sound understanding of fractions.

Here you will find the Math Salamanders Free Online Fraction Calculator.

This calculator will enable you to:

• add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions
• convert fractions to simplest form
• convert improper fractions to mixed fractions
• convert fractions to decimals and percentages
• convert decimals and percentages to fractions.

There are also support sheets to help you learn these fraction skills further down the page.

• Free Online Fraction Calculator

Equivalent fractions are fractions which have the same value as each other.

A quick way to tell whether or not two fractions are equivalent is to change them both into decimals using a calculator.

If the two decimals are identical, then the fractions have the same value.

The printable fraction page below contains more support, examples and practice using equivalent fractions.

• Finding Equivalent Fractions support page

This is also sometimes called reducing fractions to their simplest form.

This involves dividing both the numerator and denominator by a common factor to reduce the fraction to the equivalent fraction with the smallest possible numerator and denominator.

The printable fraction page below contains more support, examples and practice about simplifying fractions.

• How to Simplify Fractions support page

This support page shows how to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers, and how to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions.

You will also find printable support sheets, and several practice math worksheets for this learning fractions skill.

• Convert Improper Fractions support page

Adding and subtracting fractions works differently from adding and subtracting integers or decimals.

If the two fractions have the same denominator, then it is quite easy to add or subtract the fractions by simply adding the numerators together.

If the fractions have different denominators, then they need to be changed into equivalent fractions with the same denominator before they can be added or subtracted.

The printable learning fractions pages below contains more support, examples and practice adding and subtracting fractions.

• How do you Add Fractions support page
• Steps to Subtract Fractions support page

To multiply two fractions together, simply multiply the two numerators together, then multiply the 2 denominators together.

To divide one fraction by a second fraction, you need to invert the numerator and denominator of the second fraction so that the 'old denominator' is on the top, and the 'old numerator' is on the bottom half of the fraction. They can then be multiplied together to give an answer.

The printable fraction pages below contains more support, examples and practice multiplying and dividing fractions.

• Multiplying Fractions
• Multiplying Mixed Fractions
• How to Divide Fractions
• Dividing Fractions by Whole Numbers
• Dividing Mixed Fractions

To convert a fraction to a decimal is a straightforward task if you have a calculator to hand.

Simply divide the numerator by the denominator to give you the decimal form.

The printable learning fractions page below contains more support, examples and practice converting fractions to decimals, and converting decimals to fractions.

• Convert Fractions to Decimal
• Convert Decimal to Fraction

To convert a fraction to a percentage follows on simply from converting a fraction to a decimal.

Simply divide the numerator by the denominator to give you the decimal form. Then multiply the result by 100 to change the decimal into a percentage.

The printable learning fraction page below contains more support, examples and practice converting fractions to decimals.

• Converting Fractions to Percentages
• Convert Percent to Fraction

Often when we are talking about and using fractions, we are looking at fractions of numbers or quantities.

To find a fraction of a number or quantity, we need to first divide the number or quantity by the denominator. Then multiply this by the numerator to give the answer.

The printable learning fractions page below contains more support, examples and practice finding fractions of numbers.

• How to Calculate Fractions of numbers

Whether you are looking for a free Homeschool Math Worksheet collection, banks of useful Math resources for teaching kids, or simply wanting to improve your child's Math learning at home, there is something here at Math-Salamanders.com for you!

The Math Salamanders hope you enjoy using these free printable Math worksheets and all our other Math games and resources.

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