How do you solve P6 questions on equal fractions of two quantities?
When a fraction of one group equals a fraction of another, that shared amount becomes one unit in both bars.
What your child learns here
When a fraction of one group equals a fraction of another, that shared amount becomes one unit in both bars. This page connects fractions with ratio, a relationship your child meets again and again in Primary 6 word problems.
Draw the equal amounts as the same unit in both bars.
Make the top numbers equal first when they are not both 1.
Find each group as a number of units, then use the total, a difference or one count to find 1 unit.
Applies the relationship between fraction and ratio.
Does the answer make sense?
When equal amounts are a smaller fraction of one group and a larger fraction of the other, the group with the smaller fraction must be the bigger group. So if one quarter of tank P matches two thirds of tank Q, your child's answer must show tank P holding more water than tank Q.
How to practise these questions
Basic questions train making the numerators equal so that both wholes can be drawn in matching units. Intermediate questions add a single count, a difference or equal amounts remaining as the given fact. Challenge questions use different fractions that leave equal amounts, or a quantity that stays the same across two wholes. If equal fractions of two wholes seem mismatched, read the written step-by-step solution together.
Questions parents ask
Does my child need to change the fractions into a ratio? Not directly. The bar model does it: the equal amount is 1 unit in both bars, so when the top numbers are both 1, each group is as many units as its bottom number.
What if the top numbers are not 1? Make them equal first by writing an equivalent fraction. Two thirds and one half become two thirds and two quarters, so the groups are 3 units and 4 units.
Which part of the syllabus do equal fractions of two quantities use? It applies the Primary 6 ratio outcome on the relationship between fraction and ratio to fraction word problems. Nothing new is needed beyond equivalent fractions and units.
