Rose is Rose by Don Wimmer and Pat Brady for October 06, 2015

Half of nothing is still nothing…

It’s a flare-up of his old Mathaphobia.

A THIRD of the time it’s not so easy.

You better ask Mom or Vikki.

He got out the window! My goodness, that took a fraction of the time it would take to get to the door!

To this day fractions scare the shiitake mushrooms out of me!

I’d like a third of a quarter-pounder, please.

it’s the new math, the new math. you don’t have to review to do math. it’s so simple, so very simple, that only a child can do it.—tom lehrer

Trivial.

http://www.numberempire.com/fractionscalculator.php

1/4+3/5 = 17/20

No thought required.

Understanding fractions is a bit more work. It takes a dozen logical steps to get from four quarters in a dollar to subtracting and dividing fractions. I find that it helps both children and mathophobic parents to work in slices of pizza, or pictures of pizza slices on paper or on a computer.

For the example above, cut one pizza in four, and a second in five, and take one slice from pizza 1 and three from pizza 2. Cut the quarter pizza in five, getting twentieths, and cut the fifths of pizza in four each, getting twentieths, and count the twentieths. Of course, you don’t start children there. You have to begin with much simpler cases, and work up to it.

Cuisenaire rods work, too. Muffin pans and dried beans. No, M&Ms. This needs to be fun. Measuring cups. Lego blocks. Squares on a checkerboard. Apples and oranges. Say, you know those chocolate oranges you usually see around Christmas time, that come apart in slices? Mmmm. Tasty fractions.

I am 4/4 certain that I’m 83% not knowledgeable about that subject!

I am 4/4 certain that I’m 83% not knowledgeable about that subject!

Gone! In a fraction of a second.

convert to decimals, .If he could DO That, he would not be having a Problem with Fractions..

I always loved fractions. I loved math. Up to calculus but not including geometry.

I am thankful to my 4th grade math teacher, who covered fractions thoroughly and with enthusiasm, for my later love of algebra.