How_To_Be_Good_At_Math

NUMBERS • FINDING A FRACTION OF AN AMOUNT 47

Count your chickens

A farmer has a flock of 24 chickens. If he

decided to sell^3 / 4 of his flock, how many

would he take to the market?

To find a fraction of an

amount, divide the amount

by the denominator, then

multiply the answer by the

numerator.

TRY IT OUT

First, we find

one-third of 12

by dividing it by 3,

the denominator of the

fraction. The answer is

12 ÷ 3 = 4, so one-third

of the herd is four cows.

Look at this herd of

12 cows. How many

cows would two-thirds

of the herd be?

We know that

one-third of 12 is 4,

so to find two-thirds, we

multiply 4 by 2. The

answer is 4 × 2 = 8, so

we know that two-thirds

of 12 is 8.

Answer on page 319

Finding a fraction

of an amount

Sometimes, we need to find out exactly what a fraction

of a number or an amount is. Here’s how to do it.

of 12 = 8

of 12 = 4

of 12 =?

2

3

1

3

2

3

046_047_Finding_Fraction_of_Amount.indd 47 29/02/2016 16:39