Description
In Grade 3, students compared fractions using fraction strips and number lines with the same denominators. In Topic C, they expand on comparing fractions by reasoning about fractions with unlike denominators. Students use the relationship between the numerator and denominator of a fraction to compare to a known benchmark on the number line.
Alternatively, students compare using the same numerators. They find that the fraction with the greater denominator is the lesser fraction since the size of the fractional unit is smaller as the whole is decomposed into more equal parts. Throughout the process, their reasoning is supported using tape diagrams and number lines in cases where one numerator or denominator is a factor of the other. When the units are unrelated, students use area models and multiplication, the general method pictured below to the left, whereby two fractions are expressed in terms of the same denominators. Students also reason that comparing fractions can only be done when referring to the same whole, and they record their comparisons using the comparison symbols <, >, and = (4.NF.2).
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Credits
From EngageNY.org of the New York State Education Department. Grade 4 Mathematics Module 5, Topic C Overview.
Available from engageny.org/resource/grade-4-mathematics-module-5-topic-c-overview; accessed 2015-05-29.
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