Fraction Measurement Guide for Math Students

How Can A Fraction Measurement Guide Help Me?

Fractions are studied over the course of many years, beginning in elementary school. Because fractions are an essential part of your mathematics education, you'll benefit from getting a solid foundation early on. In addition to gaining a deeper understanding of fractions, a measurement guide can help you complete homework faster.

In the early stages of fraction lessons, you will be comparing fraction equivalency. Drawings and other visual aids help as a measurement guide. Then, as you advance to measuring with centimeters and inches, the ruler itself is a helpful fraction guide. Finally, as your continue on to algebra or even calculus, you'll likely find a fraction to decimal conversion guide to be a valuable tool.

Fraction Measurement Guides

Pie

If you're just starting to learn about fractions, it can be helpful to draw a pie chart. This will help you visualize the problem. Try it out with the following problem. Which is larger: 1/2 or 1/3? If you're unsure, draw two circles. In the first, there should be two slices of pie and only one is shaded in. In the second circle, there should be three slices and only one is shaded in. From this, you can see that 1/2 is larger than 1/3. This is a helpful and easy way to look at fractions.

Ruler

Measuring fractional lengths is not too difficult if you use a ruler as a fraction measurement guide. Most rulers are divided into units of centimeters or inches. Each whole unit is then divided into smaller units. Centimeters are usually divided into halves or quarters. Since inches are bigger, they may be divided into units as small as sixteenths.

When you're measuring lengths with a ruler, use the tick marks on the ruler to help you determine the fractional amount. For example, you can measure half a centimeter by finding the tick mark that shows the halfway point between one centimeter and the next one.

Chart

Another aspect of fraction measurement is converting fractions to decimals. Some fractions are more frequent than others, so it can be helpful to memorize some conversions. Some common conversions include:

• 1/2 = 0.5
• 1/3 = 0.33
• 2/3 = 0.66
• 1/4 = 0.25
• 3/4 = 0.75
• 1/5 = 0.2

Keep a conversion guide in the back of your notebook or create flashcards; this way you can have easy access to it during class and when you're completing your homework. If you continually see a fraction appear in the textbook, add it to your list, and it will save you time in class and at home.