Video Transcript
Compare the fractions. Which symbol is missing? Three-quarters, three-eighths. Is the missing symbol equal to,
less than, or greater than?
In this question, we have to
compare the two fractions shown, three-quarters and three-eighths. And we have to select the correct
symbol to compare these fractions. Is three-quarters equal to
three-eighths? Both of these fractions do have the
same numerator, three-quarters and three-eighths. So you might be mistaken into
thinking these fractions are equal. But we need to look at the
denominator of each fraction because the denominator affects the size of the
fraction. And our two models help us to see
this.
If we take the whole amount and
split it into four equal parts, each part would be one-quarter. And if we take the whole amount and
split it into eight equal parts, each part is worth one-eighth. We can see that one-eighth is
smaller than a quarter. The more equal parts we divide our
whole into, the smaller each part becomes. So if one-eighth is less than
one-quarter, three-eighths is also less than three-quarters. Three-quarters is worth more than
three-eighths.
So the missing symbol is “greater
than.” Three-quarters is greater than
three-eighths. When we’re comparing two fractions
with the same numerator, we also need to compare the denominators because the size
of the denominator affects the size of the fraction. The missing symbol is “greater
than.”
