Knowing how to divide fractions is easy once you’ve got to grips. We first need to take one of the fractions in our problem and invert it so that the numerator and denominator have swapped places. Once that’s done, we multiply both of the numerators and both of the denominators. Finally, we simply down the final answer if we can. Let’s work through an example together:
- As you can see, we’re trying to divide 2/5 by 2/3.
- We first need to take 2/3 and flip it, meaning it now becomes 3/2.
- We can now change our division problem into a multiplication one. So the new situation that we’re currently solving is 2/5×3/2.
- Our next step is multiplying the numerators to give us 2×3=6, followed by the denominators, which provide us 5×2=10.
- We’ve now reached an answer of 6/10.
This can be simplified, so our final answer is 3/5.
Let’s try another example step-by-step:
- This time, we’re going to work out 5/6 ÷ 2/3.
- Let’s flip 2/3, meaning that it’s now become 3/2.
- The new problem that we now need to solve is 5/6×3/2.
- It’s time to test our multiplication skills! Our numerators multiply to give us 5×3=15, while our denominators multiply to give us 6×2=12.
- Our answer for this one is an improper fraction, as it gives us 15/12.
- We can simplify this down firstly to 1 and 3/12.
- Finally, we can simplify 3/12 down to 1/4, meaning that our final answer is the mixed number 1 1/4.
