Imagine you have 1/4 of a pie to slip with your friend. Explain how you would divide fractions to figure our how much of the pie each of you will have.

Answer 1

To divide the 1/4 pie equally between you and your friend, you need to divide the fraction 1/4 by the number of people, which is 2 (one for you and one for your friend).

To do this, you can multiply the fraction 1/4 by its reciprocal, which is 2/1 because dividing by a fraction is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal.

So, multiplying 1/4 by 2/1:
(1/4) × (2/1) = (1 × 2) / (4 × 1)
= 2/4

Therefore, each of you will have 2/4 of the pie. However, this fraction can be simplified. Both 2 and 4 can be divided by their greatest common divisor, which is 2. Dividing both the numerator and denominator of 2/4 by 2:
(2 ÷ 2) / (4 ÷ 2) = 1/2

Hence, each of you will have 1/2 of the pie.