What is Division of Fractions?
Division of fractions means further dividing a part (or fraction) into equal parts or groups. For the division of fractions, we multiply the dividend with the multiplicative inverse of the divisor. First, we should learn what the multiplicative inverse of a fraction is.
Multiplicative Inverse of a Fraction
If the product of two numbers is 1 then, each number is called Multiplicative inverse or Reciprocal of the other. For example:
As 3/5 × 5/3 = 1,
3/5 is multiplicative inverse of 5/3 and vice-versa.
We can simply find the multiplicative inverse of a fraction by interchanging its numerator and denominator. Some facts about Multiplicative Inverse:
- 1 is the only positive number whose Multiplicative inverse is the number itself.
- The number 0 does not have any reciprocal as division of 0 is not possible.
Division of Fractions
Division means sharing something equally. For example, if we divide 20 sweets equally among 5 children, each child will get 4 sweets. Similarly, Division of fractions means dividing a fraction into equal parts. Like if we want to divide 2/3 of the cake among 6 people, each person will get 2/3 ÷ 6 = 1/9 part of the cake. For division in fractions, we multiply the first fraction with the reciprocal of the second fraction.
In this article, we will learn about fractions, the reciprocal of fractions, the division of a fraction with whole numbers, another fraction, and decimals along with some solved examples for better understanding.
Table of Content
- What is Division of Fractions?
- How to Divide a Fraction?
- Multiplication and Division of fraction
- Examples of Division of Fraction
- Division of Fraction Word Problem
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