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.

Figure 6 Smarties in different colours

Show description|Hide description

A quantity of Smarties in different colours. 4 are red; 6 are blue; 5 are pink; 3 are green; 6 are yellow; 2 are orange; 4 are purple.

Figure 6 Smarties in different colours

In Figure 6, what fraction of Smarties are red?

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 . 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.