Practise Solving Word Problems Involving Fractions

In this activity, we will be answering word problems that involve fractions. 

You will need to be able to find 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, and 1/3 of numbers or amounts. 

 

Let's have a quick recap on how we find a fraction of an amount. 

 

First, we divide by the denominator (the second  or bottom number), then we multiply the answer by the numerator (the first or top number).

Let's have a look at a few examples. 

 

Example 1

 

  

 

There was a piece of rope that measured 32 cm. 

3/4 of the rope was cut away. 

 

How much rope was cut away? 

 

To answer this, we need to find 3/4 of the rope and the rope is 32 cm. 

So this is 3/4 of 32. 

 

To start with, we divide by the denominator which is 4:

32 ÷ 4 = 

 

This means we need to count up in fours until we reach 32:

4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32

That took eight sets of 4 so our answer is 8. 

32 ÷ 4 = 8 

Then we need to multiply our answer by the numerator:

8 x 3 = 24

 

That gives us our final answer of 24. 

This means that 24 cm of rope was cut away. 

 

 

Example 2

Father Christmas had a Christmas tree that was 48 cm tall.

He had to cut 1/4 of the tree off. 

How much did he cut off?

 

So Father Christmas needs to find 1/4 of 48 cm. 

Our denominator is four which means we need to divide by this:

48 ÷ 4 =

How many fours make 48? 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48

That took 12 fours. 

48 ÷ 4 = 12

As the numerator is one, we don't need to do anything else as when you multiply by one the answer stays the same.

He cut off 12 cm. 

 

 

Are you ready to tackle these questions?