Topics covered within this unit: 5.1 Fractions 5.2 Working with fractions 5.3 Working with decimals 5.4 Working with percentages 5.5 Percentages in context
The Learning Outcomes covered in this unit are contained in the following sections:
N.1e N.2a N.2c 5.1 Fractions
Key words Fraction
Proper fraction Improper fraction Mixed fraction Reciprocal Decimal Terminating decimal Recurring decimal Percentage Cost price Selling price Profi t Loss
The way we represent fractions today probably came from the ancient Hindus.
Around 630 CE, Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician, would write the fraction two-quarters without the bar in the middle as 2
4
The Arabians came up with the bar in the middle (called the vinculum).
72 Linking Thinking 1
By the end of this section, you should: ● understand fractions ● be able to convert between equivalent fractions
Fractions, decimals and percentages
Something to think about …
My mother baked a cake and left it in the fridge.
My dad woke during the night and ate half of the cake. Then my sister woke and ate one-third of what remained. Later, I woke up and ate one-quarter of the rest. Finally, my mother woke and ate one-fi fth of the remaining cake.
What fraction of the original cake was left in the morning?
A fraction is a number written in the form of one number divided by another number.
A fraction represents part of a whole. When something is broken up into a number of equal parts, the fraction shows how many of those parts you have.
There are two main parts of a fraction: the numerator and the denominator.
The numerator is how many parts you have. The denominator is how many parts the whole was divided into. Fractions are written with the numerator over the denominator and a line in between them.