Idea 1of 22
A unit fraction is one equal piece
What fraction is one of three equal pieces of a whole?
Today you'll discover
- what a unit fraction is
- what the 1 and the bottom number mean
- how to name one piece of any whole
Think firstOne whole bar, cut into 3 equal pieces
The whole bar is cut into 3 equal pieces. What fraction of the whole is one piece?
Decide first, then press Next. Count the equal pieces in the whole.
A long bar labelled 1 whole, cut by two lines into 3 equal pieces. The first piece is tinted and ringed, with 1/3 written on it. Then a circle cut into 4 equal pieces with one marked 1/4. Then the bar's pieces numbered 1, 2, 3. The last step shows a bar cut into 5 equal pieces.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
A unit fraction is one of the equal pieces of a whole, like 1/3.
Easy to get wrongThe pieces must be equal. A bar cut into 3 pieces of different sizes is not in thirds, and no piece of it is 1/3.
Unit fractions1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8: each is one piece, from a whole cut into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8 equal pieces.
Key word
- unit fraction
- one of the equal pieces a whole is cut into; it has 1 on top, like 1/3 or 1/8
Ready to use it?
- Name the unit fraction for one piece of a whole.