4.2 Simplifying fractions
Watch the video below which looks at how to simplify fractions before having a go yourself in Activity 7.
Activity _unit2.4.1 Activity 7: Simplest form fractions
A local supermarket conducted a survey of 100 customers. 86 of them said they felt they got good value for money. Express this as a fraction in its simplest form.
30 people entered a raffle. 6 of these people won a prize. What fraction of people did not win a prize? Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
Answer
The initial fraction here is 86/100. This simplifies to 43/50 (divide top and bottom by 2)
As this question wants the number of people who did not win a prize we must first do 30 − 6 = 24 people did not win a prize.
As a fraction this becomes 24/30 which simplifies to 12/15 (divide top and bottom by 2).
This can be further simplified to 4/5 (divide top and bottom by 3).
Now that you can express a quantity as a fraction and simplify fractions, the next step is to be able to work out fractions of amounts. For example, if you see a jacket that was priced at £80 originally but is in the sale with 2/5 off, it’s useful to be able to work out how much you will be paying.