3/5 of a chocolate bar is shared equally among 2 friends. How much of a bar does each friend get?
Each friend's share of the bar = 3/10
Ans: {3|10}
Example 1
2/3 of a cereal bar is shared equally among 4 friends. How much of a cereal bar does each friend get?
Each friend's share of the cereal bar = 1/6
Ans: {1|6}
How to solve it
Draw the bar cut into the bottom number of equal parts, and shade the top number: three fifths is 3 of 5 parts.
Dividing by 2 is the same as multiplying by one half, so cut each part into 2.
That doubles the bottom number. The 5 parts become 10, and the top number stays 3.
Each friend gets one row of the shaded part: 3 pieces out of 10, which is three tenths of a bar.
Simplify if you can: two thirds shared among 4 is 2 pieces out of 12, which is one sixth after cancelling the common factor 2.
To divide a fraction by a whole number, multiply the bottom number by it. The top number stays the same. Dividing by a whole number is the same as multiplying by one over that number.
Practice questions with worked solutions
Question 1 is free to try. The other 5 open in the free trial, each with its full working.
What are the steps for dividing a fraction by a whole number in P6?
Dividing a proper fraction by a whole number is one of only two new fraction outcomes in Primary 6.
What your child learns here
Dividing a proper fraction by a whole number is one of only two new fraction outcomes in Primary 6. The bar model shows why the bottom number is multiplied: sharing cuts each part into smaller pieces.
Divide a proper fraction by a whole number without a calculator.
See dividing by 3 as the same as multiplying by one third.
Share a remainder, not the whole, when a word problem says so.
Simplify the answer when the top and bottom numbers share a factor.
Does the answer make sense?
Each share must be smaller than the fraction of ribbon, loaf or cake being shared, because sharing among more people makes every piece smaller. When your child shares four fifths of a loaf among 3 children, each child must get less than a third of the whole loaf.
How to practise these questions
The Basic questions train dividing a fraction by a whole number as sharing it into equal parts. Intermediate questions repeat the sharing idea with a fraction whose answer needs simplifying at the end. When a shared-out fraction is confusing, read the written step-by-step solution.
Questions parents ask
Is dividing a fraction by a whole number a P6 topic? Yes. 'Dividing a proper fraction by a whole number without calculator' is outcome 1.1 of the Primary 6 Fractions sub-strand in the MOE syllabus.
Why does the bottom number get bigger when you divide? Dividing cuts each part into smaller pieces. Sharing one third between 2 gives one sixth each, because the whole is now cut into 6 equal parts.
Can my child divide the top number instead? When the top number divides evenly, yes: four fifths divided by 2 is two fifths. When it does not, multiply the bottom number instead, which always works.
