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Everyday maths 2
Everyday maths 2

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4.1 Writing a quantity of an amount as a fraction

Writing a quantity of an amount as a fraction might sound complicated, but it’s actually very logical. Look at the example below.

Described image
Figure 6 Smarties in different colours

In Figure 6, what fraction of Smarties are red?

number of red smarties divided by total number of smarties=four divided by 30

To express the fraction of Smarties that are red, you simply need to count the red Smarties (4) and the total number of Smarties (30) Since there are 4 red Smarties out of 30 altogether, the fraction is four divided by 30. It is worth noting here that this could also be written as 4/30.

You may well be asked to give an answer as a fraction in it’s simplest form, which leads you nicely to the next section.