Finding fractions of amounts

In a nutshell

Fractions can be used to describe a part or parts of a whole number. You can use the numerator and the denominator of a fraction to find a fraction of an amount.

Example 1

To find $\frac{1}{5}$ of $20$ , you divide $20$ by $5$ .

$20 \div 5 = 4$ 

So $\frac{1}{5}$ of $20 = \underline{4}$

Finding fractions of a quantity

Procedure

1.	Divide the number by the denominator (bottom number) of the fraction.
2.	Multiply the result of Step 1 by the numerator (top number) of the fraction.

Example 2

Calculate $\frac{5}{8}$ of $32$ .

Divide by the denominator:

$32 \div 8 = 4$

Multiply the result by the numerator:

 $4 \times 5 = \underline{20}$ 

Tip: The beginning of the words 'divide' and 'denominator' sound similar, which can help you to remember what to divide by.