Multiplying and dividing fraction word problems, step by step
A fraction of a fraction is the step children trust least, because the answer gets smaller when they multiplied.
The question
How many portions are there?
Dev is packing 6 cups of flour into 1/2-cup sample pots for the market stall.
Dev is packing 6 cups of flour into 1/2-cup sample pots for the market stall.
numbers:6
6÷
asked:How many portions are there?
6÷=12
12portions
- Read it through once. Grabbing the numbers on the first read means choosing an operation before you know the story, and that choice is the only hard part of a word problem.
- Now the numbers: 6 and 1/2. Finding them is not the same as knowing what to do with them — that comes next, and it comes from the story rather than from the numbers.
- One amount split into equal parts. So this one is a division: 6 ÷ 1/2.
- 6 ÷ 1/2 = 6 × 2 = 12 portions. And answer the question that was ASKED — "How many portions are there?" — in portions, because the sum on its own is not yet an answer.
How it works.
- 01
Read it through once. Grabbing the numbers on the first read means choosing an operation before you know the story, and that choice is the only hard part of a word problem.
- 02
Now the numbers: 6 and 1/2. Finding them is not the same as knowing what to do with them — that comes next, and it comes from the story rather than from the numbers.
- 03
One amount split into equal parts. So this one is a division: 6 ÷ 1/2.
- 04
6 ÷ 1/2 = 6 × 2 = 12 portions. And answer the question that was ASKED — "How many portions are there?" — in portions, because the sum on its own is not yet an answer.