Basic math skills are one of the keys to succeed in math. To study basic math, students need to learn fractions as the major part of arithmetic and hence, as the basic math. To learn fractions, they can be divided into many subsections. One most basic subsection in fraction study is the equivalent fractions. Students need to know two main things about the equivalent fractions and they are their definition and their applications to other sections of fractions and mathematics.
The definition:
When two factions have the same value then they are called the equivalent fractions. Note that, these fractions have different numerators and denominators, but still represent the same part of a whole or a group of things.
Let’s take an example of two equivalent fractions from a daily life activity. Consider Ron and Billy are two brothers and Ron likes cheese pizza and Billy likes pepperoni pizza.
Their mom makes two pizzas of same size for them, cheese for Ron and pepperoni for Billy. Ron likes to eat small slices, so mom cuts his cheese pizza into six equal slices. Billy doesn’t care about the size of the slice so mom just cuts pepperoni pizza into four big slices.
Now, Billy eats two slices out of all four slices of pepperoni pizza and hence he eats “half” of his pizza which can be written as a fractions of “2/4”. Ron gets hungry and he eats three slices of his cheese pizza and which can be written as 3/6. But, 3 out of 6 slices is also “half”. So, Ron eats half of his pizza too.
So both boys eats same amount of each pizza, which is half. But Ron’s amount is 3/6 of his pizza and Billy eats 2/4 of his pizza, but both of them eat equal amount of a pizza which is half. Therefore, 2/4 and 3/6 are the equivalent fractions, as they represent the same amount of pizza eaten by two persons.
You can pick any other similar example to explain it further to kids, such as, two same sized apples cut into two and four equal pieces. Many sites online have more ideas about the concept and can be used to improve the knowledge of kids in this basic math skill.
Applications in math:
Equivalent fractions have many applications to learn higher fractional topics. There are the following main fractional topics, which need the knowledge of equivalent fractions as a base:
1. To simplify fractions into lowest terms
2. Comparing and ordering fractions
3. Adding and subtracting fractions
Therefore, kids need to know equivalent fractions before they want to learn above topics of fractions. Therefore, it is the best idea to review your kids knowledge of this topic before asking him/her to do the higher math topics.
As a conclusion, kids in elementary grades need to know the definition and the applications of equivalent fractions to learn higher math or arithmetic concepts. Kids can start learning this skill as soon as they get the basic idea of writing fractions or drawing fractions. Also most kids in grade three learn this skill.
