We first need to remember that a fraction is a way of showing sections of a whole, whether that whole consists of objects or values. It involves splitting or dividing an object or value into equal sections and showing how many of those sections are being considered or used.
When we divide one fraction by another, we're basically figuring out how many times the second fraction fits into the first fraction.
Here, in this example we can see how many smaller pieces (the second fraction) can fit into the larger piece (the first fraction).
Since dividing fractions doesn’t require both fractions to have a common denominator, we don’t need to find one. The steps are simpler.
Keep the first fraction unchanged. This is the fraction we’ll be dividing from, also known as the dividend. It represents the amount we are starting with before dividing by the second fraction.
Then, the fraction we're dividing by (the divisor) should be flipped upside down. This is known as finding the reciprocal.
A reciprocal of a fraction is just that fraction flipped upside down. For example, in this case, the reciprocal of 2/4 is 4/2.
Next, we have to multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction.
Then, we write the results or products of the multiplications for both the numerator and denominator.
This gives us the new numerator (top number) and denominator (bottom number) of the product.
Let's remember that the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) is the largest number that can evenly divide both the numerator and denominator of a fraction. For example, in the fraction 20/12, both the numerator and the denominator can be divided by 1, 2 and 4. Since 4 is the largest of these three numbers, we choose 4 as the greatest common factor and divide both the numerator and denominator by 4.
When we divide both the numerator and denominator by 4 we get 5/3.
And those are the steps for dividing fractions!
