Fractions

Comparing fractions

In Introduction to Fractions, we learned that fractions are a way of showing part of something. Fractions are useful, since they let us tell exactly how much we have of something.

All fractions are smaller than a whole. Another way of saying this is that fractions are less than 1. So a fraction of a pie is less than one whole pie. A fraction of a dollar is less than a whole dollar. However, some fractions are larger than others. For example, which is larger: 6/8 of a pizza or 7/8 of a pizza?

In this image, we can see that 7/8 is larger. The illustration makes it easy to compare these fractions. But how could we have done it without the pictures?

Click through the slideshow to learn how to compare fractions.

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  Earlier, we saw that fractions have two parts.

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  One part is the top number, or numerator.

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  The other is the bottom number, or denominator.

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  The denominator tells us how many parts are in a whole.

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  The numerator tells us how many of those parts we have.

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  When fractions have the same denominator, it means they're split into the same number of parts.

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  This means we can compare these fractions just by looking at the numerator.

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  Here, 5 is more than 4...

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  Here, 5 is more than 4...so we can tell that 5/6 is more than 4/6.

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  Let's look at another example. Which of these is larger: 2/8 or 6/8?

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  If you thought 6/8 was larger, you were right!

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  Both fractions have the same denominator.

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  So we compared the numerators. 6 is larger than 2, so 6/8 is more than 2/8.

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As you saw, if two or more fractions have the same denominator, you can compare them by looking at their numerators. As you can see below, 3/4 is larger than 1/4. The larger the numerator, the larger the fraction.

Now you try it! Which fraction is the largest? Click on the correct answer.