Working with Fractions

Class 7 Mathematics · Ganita Prakash Part 1 · Chapter 8

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  • Triangle inequality, Ch 7
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  • Common traps, corrected
  • Magic squares and Virahāṅka numbers, Ch 6
  • Brahmagupta's fraction formulas, Ch 8
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Summary

This chapter develops multiplication and division of fractions with meaning. Multiplying a fraction by a whole number repeats it (\(\tfrac{2}{5}\times 3 = \tfrac{6}{5}\)), and multiplying two fractions uses Brahmagupta's rule \(\dfrac{a}{b}\times\dfrac{c}{d}=\dfrac{a\times c}{b\times d}\), which you also see as the area of a rectangle with fractional sides. Common factors can be cancelled before multiplying to keep numbers small. A key insight is how the size of a product depends on the factors: multiplying by a number between 0 and 1 makes the product smaller than the other number, while multiplying by a number greater than 1 makes it larger. Division is turned into multiplication using the reciprocal: \(\dfrac{a}{b}\div\dfrac{c}{d}=\dfrac{a}{b}\times\dfrac{d}{c}\). When the divisor is between 0 and 1 the quotient is bigger than the dividend; when it is greater than 1 the quotient is smaller. The chapter is rich in history — Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya's Lilavati, and the Shulbasutra — and applies fractions to many everyday sharing and measuring problems.

Multiplying fractions by whole numbers and fractionsBrahmagupta's rule and area modelCancelling common factors and lowest formReciprocals and dividing fractionsSize of products and quotients; word problems

Key terms

Fraction
A number of the form \(\dfrac{a}{b}\) representing parts of a whole.
Multiplication of fractions
Brahmagupta's rule: \(\dfrac{a}{b}\times\dfrac{c}{d}=\dfrac{a\times c}{b\times d}\).
Reciprocal
The fraction \(\dfrac{b}{a}\) of \(\dfrac{a}{b}\); a fraction times its reciprocal is \(1\).
Division of fractions
Multiplying the dividend by the reciprocal of the divisor.
Cancelling common factors
Dividing numerator and denominator by common factors before multiplying.
Lowest form
A fraction whose numerator and denominator share no common factor other than 1.

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Brahmagupta's rule for multiplying fractions is:
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