Fraction Word Problems—Let's Practice!

Fraction Word Problems—Let's Practice! exercise

• What fraction of the animals are lions?

  Hints

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

  The denominator, or the bottom number, 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 candy.

  Hints

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

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

  Solution

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

• What fraction are ladybugs?

  Hints

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

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

  Solution

  There are 3 ladybugs 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 $\frac{1}{2}$ .