Reduction of an ordinary fraction is taught at school in mathematics. If you are a student who has safely missed this topic, or did not understand it, or if you are the parent of such a student, then this topic is just for you. How to reduce the fraction? Easy and simple if you follow the method below.
What is common fraction
Recall the theory. Ordinary fractions appear due to the division of an object or unit of measurement into several equal parts. Take the pie as an example. If you cut it into ten parts and give these ten parts to ten guests, then in an ordinary fraction it will look like 1/10 (one tenth). But on the letter this will be reflected in a two-story record, in which there is a number above the dash indicating how many parts were taken, and under the dash their total number.
For example, a fraction of 2/5 means that a person from five parts of something took only two.
We turn to the main question: how to reduce the fraction?
What does it mean
To reduce a fraction means to divide the numerator (number above the line) and the denominator (below the line) by the same number (it must be more than one). Moreover, it is necessary to divide up until the moment when the numerator and denominator do not have the total number by which they could be divided.
Reduced fractions are fractions that can no longer be reduced. They are not considered abbreviated if the numerator and denominator still have a common number into which each of them can be divided.
Abbreviation
We figured this out, move on to the next question. Let's look at examples of how to reduce the fraction.
Take a fraction of 5/25. What number is divided by? At five. Reduce the numerator and denominator on it. The result is the number 1/5. Is it possible to cut further? No.
Or a fraction of 60/120. How many can they be divided? At thirty. Reduce and get the number 2/4. Is it possible to cut further? Yes, you can cut another two. Get 1/2.
How to reduce the fraction "to the winning number", that is, not to divide it several times? Just try to find the largest number that the numerator and denominator are divided into. When we analyzed the second example, the fraction 60/120, it could be divided into sixty and immediately get 1/2.
If the largest number is not immediately found, then first try to divide the fraction into any number that occurs to you, and try to work with the new fraction again. The main thing is to reduce the fraction correctly and completely. It doesn’t matter how many steps you take to do this, but if you value your time, try to complete everything in one step.