ShmoopTube

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Dividing Fractions, a la Shmoop. They’ve just installed a new ride at the

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carnival… called, "The Lunch Dispenser." All it does is flip you around for about 15

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minutes.

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Dividing fractions is something like this nauseating ride…

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So how do we divide fractions? Assuming we don't have a meat cleaver handy?

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Having fractions inside fractions looks… a little unstable.

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Instead, we try to write them with the good old division sign.

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Since division is the opposite of multiplication…

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…what we do is multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction.

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The reciprocal just means that we switch the numerator and denominator.

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To take the reciprocal of the second fraction simply flip five-sixths and turn it around

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into six-fifths and we get this…

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Basically, the top becomes the bottom and the bottom becomes the top.

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If we have a whole number, we say that its denominator is 1.

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So 4 is the same as 4 over 1, which means that its reciprocal is one-fourth.

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After we've found the reciprocal of the second fraction…

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…we can multiply the two together. 3 times 6 is 18… and 4 times 5 is 20. Giving

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us 18 twentieths.. Don't forget to simplify your answer as much

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as you can. The simpler the better. Dividing both sides by two gives us nine-tenths.

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Also, remember that when dividing fractions, we only find the reciprocal of the second

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number. Once you get used to the turns and flips,

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dividing fractions shouldn't be too hard.

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In fact, with all that flipping and turning, you should be ready to ride "The Lunch Dispenser."

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