Watch: Simplifying fractions
You can simplify a fraction if the numerator (top number) and denominator (bottom number) can both be divided by the same number.
Six twelfths can be simplified to one half, or 1 over 2 because both numbers are divisible by 6.
6 goes into 6 once and 6 goes into 12 twice.
You're running 30km? That's very impressive!
Not as easy as you thought, huh?
Don't worry, there's a water station after 3km.
That's three 30ths of the way there
We can simplify that because both three and 30 are divisible by 3.
If we divide both the numerator and the denominator by 3, we can see that you'll be one tenth of the way through the race.
Hey, that's cheating!
There's another water station at 10km.
Both 10 and 30 are have a common factor of 10, so if we divide both by ten, you're one third of the way
This is definitely cheating鈥
But the next water station is at 18km.
18 and 30 both have a common factor of 6, so if we divide both numbers by 6鈥ou're already 3 fifths of the way.
By the way, I didn't know you could fly a helicopter!
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More on Processes in mathematics
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