Unit 6 Math Test

The Unit 6 math test has been postponed until after winter break to allow students more time for practice. The areas that most students still working on are converting improper fractions to mixed numbers, and mixed numbers to improper fractions, and finding fractional equivalents.

Converting improper fractions into mixed numbers - the "shortut": Divide the numerator by denominator. If there is a remainder, convert the remainder into a fraction by by bringing the divisor down.

For example: 9/4

9/4 = 2 remainder 1
Bring the divisor 4 down, and place it under the remainder. The answer would be 2 1/4.

Converting mixed numbers to improper fractions - the "shortcut":

Is there a shortcut to changing a mixed number into an improper fraction? Yes, there is. It works like this: to change a mixed number into an improper fraction, multiply the whole number by the denominator of the fraction and add the numerator to this product to get the numerator of the improper fraction. Use the same denominator.

Here is an example and an explanation of why the shortcut works.

Change 2 3/10 to an improper fraction.

Shortcut: Take 2 x 10. The answer is 20. Add the numerator, 3, to 20. 20 + 3 = 23. We keep the denominator of 10, so the improper fraction is 23/10.

This shortcut works because multiplying 2 x 10 is like breaking the two wholes up into 10 parts each. Then we add the three parts we already have for a total of 23 parts which are each a tenth of the whole. http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/58944.html