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Grade Band 6-8: Division of Fractions

Pink piggy bank and text

Identity Property

When a rational number is multiplied by its reciprocal, the product is 1 (eg: 3⁄4 * 4/3 = 1). In other words, if you have a fraction (like 3/4) and you multiply it by its upside-down version (4/3), you’ll always get 1 as the answer. For example, 3/4 times 4/3 equals 1.

Algorithm

A step-by-step procedure to simplify or solve a mathematical opera- tion. In other words, an algorithm is like a recipe or a set of instructions that tells you exactly what steps to follow to make a math problem simpler or to find the answer. It’s like a cooking recipe but for math!

Reciprocal

The “flipping” of a whole number or fraction (eg: 5⁄6 is the reciprocal of 6/5; 2 is the reciprocal of 1⁄2) Numerator: the “top” number in a fraction.