Dividing Fractions
Common Core Standard: Interpret and compute quotients of fractions, and solve word problems involving division of
fractions by fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.
 A great resource for this lesson is https://learnzillion.com/lessons/204-use-models-for-division-of-fractions-byfractions, this is a video of how models are used in dividing fractions
 Recognize that fraction bars are division symbols
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Remember, you learned how to divide whole numbers by fractions
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Example: 3 ÷ ¾
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It can be thought of as how many groups of ¾ are in 3
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You can draw a model of this as well, which I am not able to show on here currently (should get it from
class notes)
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You can also solve this by multiplying 3 by the reciprocal of ¾ or 4/3
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3 ● 4/3 = 4, so there are 4 groups of ¾ in 3
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Reciprocal- is a number that is related to another in such a way that it’s product equals one
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Example: What is the reciprocal of the following numbers?
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½ reciprocal is 2/1
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¾ reciprocal is 4/3
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6 reciprocal is 1/6
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0 reciprocal is nothing, 0 does not have a reciprocal
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1 reciprocal is 1
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9/4 reciprocal is 4/9
Example: ÷
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This means how many groups of ½ are in
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One way to do this is to draw a model that is 1 unit long and break it into , then take that part of the
model and see how many halves are in it
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Another way is to multiply by the reciprocal of the 2nd fraction, ½
● = , remember you can just multiply straight across
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This works because ½ of
is
Real World Example: How much chocolate will each person get if 3 people share ½ lb of chocolate equally?
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This is a division problem ½ ÷ 3
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Imagine taking a ½ lb chocolate bar and splitting it equally into 3rds
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This can be done with models (which we will do in class) or by using the traditional method
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Traditional method:
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½● =
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So, each person will get of a pound of chocolate
Real World Example: If you look at the serving size on many items, it is less than the amount in a package. Emma
buys a tub of yogurt. However, she only wants to eat 2/3 of a cup of yogurt. The serving size though is ¾ cup. How
many 3/4-cup servings are in 2/3 of a cup of yogurt?
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Again, this is a division problem
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2/3 ÷ ¾
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● = cup servings