September 8, 2009
No CommentsHow to Solve Divison Problems with Fractions
Description
This video explains how to properly divide fractions and shows several different methods that can be used. Many example problems are scattered throughout the video and solutions are presented in an organized manner.
Overview
Dividing fractions is really no different than multiplying fractions, because division is the inverse of multiplication. While we can\’t see this when using whole numbers, it is very easy to show with fractions. When you see a divison problem with fractions, it will often look like this:
(a/b) / (c/d)
Notice how if you wrote that out on paper, that would look like one giant fraction, with a fraction in the denominator and a fraction in the numerator. Now, remember that multiplication is the inverse of division. Continuing on with our example, this is our next step:
(a/b) / (c/d) = (a/b) * (d/c)
You can see that on the second fraction, the numerator and the denominator have been swapped, and we are now multiplying instead of dividing. When you do this, you are actually multiplying the first fraction by the reciprocal of the other. Now you may solve this problem just like you would solve a multiplication problem.
