Fraction Word Problems—Let's Practise!

Fraction Word Problems—Let's Practise! exercise

• What fraction of the animals are lions?

  Hints

  When finding the fraction that are lions, the numerator is how many lions there are.

  The denominator is how many animals there are in total.

  Solution

  In total there are 9 animals. 4 of the animals are lions.

  The fraction that are lions is $\mathbf{\frac{4}{9}}$.

• Fractions of sweets.

  Hints

  When finding the fraction of sweets that are red, to find the numerator, count how many red sweets there are.

  To find the denominator, look at how many sweets there are altogether.

  Solution

  • There are 7 sweets in total. 4 of them are yellow, 1 is blue and 2 sweets are red.
  • There are 7 sweets in total.
  • The fraction of sweets that are red is $\mathbf{\frac{2}{7}}$.

• What fraction are ladybirds?

  Hints

  The numerator (top part of the fraction) is where we write the number of ladybirds.

  The denominator (bottom part of the fraction) is where we write how many insects there are altogether.

  Solution

  There are 3 ladybirds out of 10 insects in total, so we write this as $\mathbf{\frac{3}{10}}$.

• Fractions of flowers.

  Hints

  When writing the fraction of flowers, the numerator is the number of that individual flower when counted up.

  The denominator is the number of flowers there are altogether.

  When all of the flowers are counted up, there are 17 in total.

  Solution

  • When we count all of the flowers, there are 17 in total, so this is always the denominator.
  • There are 6 tulips out of 17 flowers: $\frac{6}{17}$.
  • There are 5 daisies out of 17 flowers: $\frac{5}{17}$.
  • There are 6 daffodils out of 17 flowers: $\frac{6}{17}$.

• What fraction are strawberries?

  Hints

  First, count how many strawberries there are. This is the numerator or the top part of the fraction.

  Then, count how many pieces of fruit there are altogether. This is the denominator or the bottom part of the fraction.

  Solution

  $\mathbf{\frac{5}{7}}$ of the pieces of fruit are strawberries.

  This is because there are 7 pieces of fruit altogether and 5 of them are strawberries.

  We write 5 out of 7 as $\mathbf{\frac{5}{7}}$.

• Solve the big cat word problems.

  Hints

  Four out of twelve cats are lions. How can this be simplified?

  To simplify a fraction, divide both the numerator and denominator by the same factor. What is the largest number that both 6 and 12 can be divided by?

  Solution

  One third of the cats are lions. We know this because there are twelve big cats in total and four of them are lions.

  Cheetahs and leopards make up $\frac{6}{12}$ of all the big cats. In its simplest form we write this as half or $\frac{1}{2}$ .