How to Divide a Fraction by a Whole Number | Math with Mr. J

[Music] welcome to math with mr j [Music] in this video i'm going to cover how to divide a fraction by a whole number now when working with fractions and division we need to remember three steps keep switch flip we can also think multiply by the reciprocal when we flip a fraction that's called the reciprocal so this means we are going to use multiplication to solve these this actually makes the process simpler now how and why this works is a topic for another video i'll drop that link down in the description let's jump into number one where we have one-half divided by 3 so we are taking one-half and dividing it into three equal groups or parts let's rewrite the problem using keep switch flip in order to solve this so always keep the first fraction or number so let's rewrite the problem so one half we are going to keep then we switch to the opposite or inverse of division which is multiplication and since we switched to multiplication we need to flip the second number or fraction in the case of number one we have a whole three here so how do we flip this well let's put that whole number over 1 that way we have a numerator and a denominator that does not change the value of the problem that still has a value of 3. so now we can flip so the 1 is going to go up to the top and be our numerator and the 3 is going to be the denominator so we flipped that second number once we get to this point we have a multiplying fractions problem so we can multiply straight across 1 times 1 is 1 and 2 times 3 is 6. so 1 6 is our final answer always check to see if you can simplify one-sixth is in simplest form so we are done one-half divided by three equals one-sixth let's move on to number two where we have four-sevenths divided by six keep switch flip so let's rewrite the problem keep four-sevenths switch to multiplication and then we need to flip so we can write that 6 in fractional form and now we can flip so the 1 is now our numerator and the six is now our denominator and we can multiply straight across four times one is four seven times six is forty-two so we get 4 over 42 which can be simplified 4 and 42 have a greatest common factor of 2. so let's divide each of these by 2. and we get 2 over 21 for our final simplified answer so there you have it there's how you divide a fraction by a whole number keep switch flip i hope that helped thanks so much for watching until next time peace you