Video Transcript
Compare the fractions. Which symbol is missing? Four-fifths is equal to
four-sevenths, four-fifths is greater than four-sevenths, or four-fifths is less
than four-sevenths.
In this question, we have to
compare the two fractions we’ve been shown, four-fifths and four-sevenths. And we have to choose the correct
symbol to compare. Is four-fifths equal to
four-sevenths? We could think that these fractions
are equal because they both have the same numerator or the number on top of the
fraction, four-fifths and four-sevenths. Maybe you can already tell from our
fraction strips that these fractions are not equal. They’re both different sizes. So these fractions are not
equal. The missing symbol is not “equal
to.”
Is four-fifths greater than
four-sevenths? To find out, we need to compare the
denominator. If we take our whole amount or
fraction strip and divide it into five equal parts, each part is worth a fifth. And if we take our fraction strip
and divide it into seven equal parts, each part is worth a seventh. And we can see that one-fifth is
bigger than one-seventh. The more equal parts we divide the
whole amount into, the smaller the parts become. So the bigger the denominator, the
smaller the size of the fraction. So if one-fifth is greater than
one-seventh, four-fifths are greater than four-sevenths. The missing symbol is “greater
than.”
When we’re comparing two fractions
with the same numerator, the denominator tells us the size of the fraction. Four-fifths is greater than
four-sevenths.
