Fractions Made Easy 175
you simply add the numerators. For instance, if you wanted to
add one-eighth plus two-eighths, you would have an answer of
three-eighths. Th ree-eighths plus three-eighths gives an answer of
six-eighths.
How would you add one-quarter plus one-eighth?(^1) + (^1) =
4 8
If you change the quarter to ⁄, then you have an easy calculation
of ⁄ + ⅛.
It is not diffi cult to add ⅓ and ⁄. If you can see that ⅓ is the same
as ⁄, then you are just adding sixths together. So ⁄ plus ⁄ equals
⁄. You just add the numerators.
Th is can be easily seen if you are dividing slices of a cake. If the cake
is divided into 6 slices, and you eat 1 piece (⁄) and your friend has
2 pieces (⁄), you have eaten ⁄ of the cake. Because 3 is half of 6,
you can see that you have eaten half of the cake.
⁄ + ⁄ = ½
Adding fractions is easy. Here is how we would add ⅓ plus ⁄. Th e
standard method is to change thirds and fi fths into the same parts as
we did with thirds and sixths.
Here is an easy way to solve ⅓ plus ⁄ that you probably won’t be
taught in school. First, we multiply crossways and add the answers
to get the numerator of the answer.
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