From: Marielouise (for Teacher2Teacher Service)
Date: Aug 24, 1998 at 22:58:48
Subject: Practical uses for division of fraction

I think that the one place where I still use fractions on a fairly frequent
basis is in cooking.  Recipes still give teaspoon, tablespoon and fractional
amounts for cups.  Imagine a recipe that you wished to prepare.  The recipe
calls for 5 eggs.  You happen to have only 3 eggs.  For the rest of the
ingredients for the recipe you could DIVIDE each amount by 5/3rds
Now, of course, it is the same as multiplying by 3/5ths.

A good question to ask children is:  Is dividing by 5/3rds the same as
multiplying by 3/5th?
I hope it is!  Good cooking.


-Marielouise, for the Teacher2Teacher service