Video Transcript
Fill in the blank: one-half of
eight equals what.
In this question, we need to find a
fraction of an amount, one-half of eight. Now we’ve got a picture to help
us. There are eight cupcakes. Now, how do we find half of an
amount? The clue is in the fraction
itself. The top number or the numerator
tells us how many parts we’re looking for. And in this case, it’s one. We’re looking for one-half. And the bottom number or the
denominator shows us how many equal parts the whole has been split into. And from what we know about
fractions already, we know this is true, don’t we? If we divide a shape or a number or
a quantity by two, we split it into two equal parts or half. So half of the whole amount, eight,
is the same as eight divided by two.
What do we get if we split eight
into two equal parts? We get four and another four. Eight divided by two equals
four. And we know this because two times
four is eight. Half of eight equals four.
