In this lesson you’ll learn how to compare
unit fractions.
A unit fraction is any fraction that has 1
as the numerator.
For example, one-half, one-fourth, or one-seventh.
To compare unit fractions let’s start by
using a number line.
You already know that when we divide one whole
into halves we get two equal parts.
When we divide one whole into thirds we get
three equal parts.
When we divide one whole into fourths we get
four equal parts.
And so on.
So you can see that when we split the whole
into more parts,
each part gets smaller
So a unit fraction with a larger denominator
is a smaller number, and a unit fraction with
a smaller denominator is a larger number.
Let’s look at an example: one-fourth and
one- sixth.
Let’s look at these on the number line.
We can see that one-fourth is larger than
one-sixth because it’s farther to the right
on the number line.
One-fourth has a smaller denominator so it’s
a larger number than one-sixth.
Let’s look at another example: one-twelfth
and one-half.
The number with the larger denominator is
the smaller number.
So one-twelfth is less the one-half.
In the remainder of this lesson you’ll get
practice comparing unit fractions.
