Activity › Discussion › Math › Fractions › Reply To: Fractions
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Yes! To divide <math xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML”><semantics><mrow><mfrac><mn>3</mn><mn>4</mn></mfrac></mrow><annotation encoding=”application/x-tex”>\frac{3}{4}</annotation></semantics></math>43 by 2, you can multiply by the reciprocal of 2. The reciprocal of 2 is <math xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML”><semantics><mrow><mfrac><mn>1</mn><mn>2</mn></mfrac></mrow><annotation encoding=”application/x-tex”>\frac{1}{2}</annotation></semantics></math>21.
So, you can do the calculation like this:
<math xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML” display=”block”><semantics><mrow><mfrac><mn>3</mn><mn>4</mn></mfrac><mo>÷</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mn>3</mn><mn>4</mn></mfrac><mo>×</mo><mfrac><mn>1</mn><mn>2</mn></mfrac><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mrow><mn>3</mn><mo>×</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow><mrow><mn>4</mn><mo>×</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></mfrac><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mn>3</mn><mn>8</mn></mfrac></mrow><annotation encoding=”application/x-tex”>\frac{3}{4} \div 2 = \frac{3}{4} \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{3 \times 1}{4 \times 2} = \frac{3}{8}</annotation></semantics></math>43÷2=43×21=4×23×1=83
Therefore, <math xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML”><semantics><mrow><mfrac><mn>3</mn><mn>4</mn></mfrac><mo>÷</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mn>3</mn><mn>8</mn></mfrac></mrow><annotation encoding=”application/x-tex”>\frac{3}{4} \div 2 = \frac{3}{8}</annotation></semantics></math>43÷2=83.