2/4 and 2/10?
What do you think?
Is 2 parts of 4 the same as 2 parts of 10?
Think about the same size pizzas. One is divided into 4 pieces; the other is divided into 10 pieces.
What do you think?
Is 2 parts of 4 the same as 2 parts of 10?
Think about the same size pizzas. One is divided into 4 pieces; the other is divided into 10 pieces.
Which is larger
2 pieces of a pizza cut into 4 pieces?
or
2 pieces of a pizza cut into 10 pieces?
To understand why this is the case, let's consider the meaning of the denominator in a fraction. The denominator represents the number of equal parts into which a whole is divided, while the numerator represents the number of those parts we are considering.
Let's take an example to illustrate this. Consider the fractions 1/3 and 1/4. Both fractions have the same numerator, which is 1. If we divide a whole into 3 equal parts, each part represents 1/3. Similarly, if we divide the same whole into 4 equal parts, each part represents 1/4.
Comparing the two fractions, we can see that when we divide the whole into smaller parts (in this case, four parts), each part becomes smaller. So, with a smaller denominator, 1/4 represents a larger portion compared to 1/3. Therefore, 1/4 is actually greater than 1/3.
So, to summarize, when comparing two fractions with the same numerator, the fraction with the smaller denominator is greater.