Lesson 1: What is a Fraction & Fraction Types.

This is lesson 1 of 10. For other lessons, please see Jamit Fractions Contents Page.)

Lesson Contents

1.  What Is a Fraction.
2.  Fraction Examples.
3.  Fraction Parts:  Numerator , Denominator ,  Vinculum.
4.  Fraction Types:  Proper Fraction , Improper Fraction ,  Mixed Fractions.
5.  Numerator ,  Denominator ,  Vinculum.
6.  Practice Game.

NOTE: The practice game is a JAVA applet and it may take a moment before it fully loads. The loading time will be dramatically reduced when you run it from your own PC.
You can download the free version of Jamit Fractions now and try it on your PC!

WHAT IS A FRACTION

When an object is divided into a number of equal parts then each part is called a fraction.

There are different ways of writing a fraction. For example, two fifths of an object can be written as

• a common fraction 
• a decimal 0.4
• a percentage  40%

We will learn about percentages and decimals later.

Now let us have a closer look at the common fraction:
 

  2       numerator says how many parts in the fraction
          vinculum  = "divide by"
  5       denominator says how many equal parts in the whole object

Always remember: denominator can NEVER be 0.
Why? Because you cannot divide by 0.

 FRACTION EXAMPLES

Example 1:

We divide a chocolate bar into 5 equal parts.

Each part is of the whole bar.
We read  as one fifth.
The whole bar has 5 fifth parts.
We write it: 1 = 

Example 2:

We have a box of gingerbread men. There are 5 men in the box.
Each man is  of the box contents. 

The whole box has 5 fifth parts.
We write it: 1 = 
Two gingerbread men are pink.
Two pink men are  of the box contents.

FRACTION TYPES

There are 3 different types of fractions:

• Proper Fractions Numerator < Denominator
  Proper fractions have the nominator part smaller than the denominator part,
  for example , or  .
• Improper Fractions Numerator > Denominator or Numerator = Denominator,
  Improper fractions have the nominator part greater or equal to the denominator part,
  for exampleor .
• Mixed Fractions
  Mixed fractions have a whole number plus a fraction, for example 2or 123 .