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Comparing and ordering fractions

Finding common denominators of multiple fractions to order them. Created by Sal Khan.

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  • blobby green style avatar for user 27hassanif
    what if you had a question that says smallest to largest and the numbers are 3/5 9/10 1/4 5/12 which number well go to the smaller place and which one is going to the bigger place?
    (12 votes)
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    • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user MCFCguy
      One way you could go about it is dividing them into two groups: Numbers that are more than one half and numbers that are less than one half. Then divide each group in half and check the numbers that are more and less than 1/4 and then the same for 3/4. This is not the most efficient way, but it works and you don't have to make all of the fractions have the same denominator. Another way is to line them up after you make all of the fractions have a common denominator.
      (5 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user dburr2027
    I get stress out and don't wanna do it way to hard please make it easy for beginners...?
    (7 votes)
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  • spunky sam blue style avatar for user d6265121681
    this takes too long. is there a more simple and faster way to do this? :(
    (10 votes)
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  • hopper happy style avatar for user jase
    this is so hard can you make it a little easyer please?
    (7 votes)
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  • aqualine seed style avatar for user MajesticSIkora
    wait I am confused doesn't 6-5=1? Not 0 plz help
    (5 votes)
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  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Kemey Martinez
    is their a faster and easier way?
    (5 votes)
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  • orange juice squid orange style avatar for user Dan Braithwaite
    I think the learning curve just went through the ceiling with this video. I don't get why someone just wouldn't use a calculator for this. It feels like such a complex way of doing something, and suddenly it's as if I have to do 10x the amount of calculations in my head compared to the rest of the course.

    In fact I don't ever recall the method of finding the least common denominator every explained this way...have I missed a previous video? I feel really deflated with this one...
    (4 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user ddyar2842
    this doesn't make sense
    (4 votes)
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  • mr pink orange style avatar for user pugunasinghe01
    i understand, but he is probably doing the same thing that you are doing, but waaay into detail
    (4 votes)
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  • starky ultimate style avatar for user Tuaiva Stergios
    At , Sal is saying that " in our least common multiple we have to have two 2's. But we already have two 2's right over here from our 4." Why adding only two 2's and not three 2's or more in the LCM ? Or to make it easier to understand my problem here is the LCM: 3.3.2.2.5. my problem is why not: 3.3.2.2.2.5 or 3.2.5 ? I hope you understand what I mean and sorry if I don't express myself properly. :)
    (2 votes)
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    • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Johnathan
      I understand clearly. So again, stating Sal, "Another way to do it is look at the prime factorization of each of these numbers. And then the least common multiple of them will have to have at least all of those prime numbers in it."

      If we only had 3.2.5, we wouldn't be able to fit 12 in it since 12 needs two 2's. Neither could we fit 9 in it because it needs two 3's.

      And why not three 2's, because we want to find the minimal requirement. If we find the LCM of only 4 and 12, it would be 12 because 12 already has two 2's. Yes, 3.3.2.2.2.5. is a common multiple but it is not the lowest common multiple.
      (3 votes)

Video transcript

What I want to do in this video is order these fractions from least to greatest. And the easiest way and the way that I think we can be sure we'll get the right answer here is to find a common denominator, because if we don't find a common denominator, these fractions are really hard to compare. 4/9 versus 3/4 versus 4/5, 11/12, 13/15. You can try to estimate them, but you'll be able to directly compare them if they all had the same denominator. So the trick here, or at least the first trick here, is to try to find that common denominator. And there's many ways to do it. You could just pick one of these numbers and keep taking its multiples and find that multiple that is divisible by all the rest. Another way to do it is look at the prime factorization of each of these numbers. And then the least common multiple of them will have to have at least all of those prime numbers in it. It has to be composed of all of these numbers. So let's do it that second way. And then let's verify that it definitely is divisible. So 9 is the same thing as 3 times 3. So our least common multiple is going to have at least one 3 times 3 in it. And then 4 is the same thing as 2 times 2. So we're going to also have to have a 2 times 2 in our prime factorization of our least common multiple. 5 is a prime number. So we're going to need to have a 5 in there. And then 12-- I'm going to do that in yellow. 12 is the same thing as 2 times 6, which is the same thing as 2 times 3. And so in our least common multiple, we have to have two 2's. But we already have two 2's right over here from our 4. And we already have one 3 right over here. Another way to think about it is something that is divisible by both 9 and 4 is going to be divisible by 12, because you're going to have the two 2's. And you're going to have that one 3 right over there. And then, finally, we need to be divisible by 15's prime factors. So let's look at 15's prime factors. 15 is the same thing as 3 times 5. So once again, this number right over here already has a 3 in it. And it already has a 5 in it. So we're cool for 15, for 12, and, obviously, for the rest of them. So this is our least common multiple. And we can just take this product. And so this is going to be equal to 3 times 3 is 9. 9 times 2 is 18. 18 times 2 is 36. 36 times 5, you could do that in your head if you're like. But I'll do it on the side just in case. 36 times 5, just so that we don't mess up. 6 times 5 is 30. 3 times 5 is 15 plus 3 is 180. So our least common multiple is 180. So we want to rewrite all of these fractions with 180 in the denominator. So this first fraction, 4/9, is what over 180? To go from 9 to 180, we have to multiply the denominator by 20. So let me do it this way. So if we do 4/9, to get the denominator of 9 to be 180, you have to multiply it by 20. And since we don't want to change the value of the fraction, we should also multiply the 4 by 20. So we're just really multiplying by 20/20. And so 4/9 is going to be the same thing as 80/180. Now, let's do the same thing for 3/4. Well, what do we have to multiply the denominator by to get us to 180? So it looks like 45. You could divide 4 into 180 to figure that out. But if you take 4 times 45, 4 times 40 is 160. 4 times 5 is 20. You add them up. You get 180. So if you multiply the denominator by 45, you also have to multiply the numerator by 45. 3 times 45 is 120 plus 15. So it's 135. And the denominator here is 180. Now, let's do 4/5. To get our denominator to be 180, what do you have to multiply 5 by? Let's see. If you multiply 5 by 30, you'll get to 150. But then you have another 30. Actually, we know it right over here. You have to multiply it by 36. Well, then you have to multiply the numerator by 36 as well. And so our denominator is going to be 180. Our numerator, 4 times 30 is 120. 4 times 6 is 24. So it's 144/180. And then we have only two more to do. So we have our 11/12. So to get the denominator to be 180, we have to multiply 12 by-- so 12 times 10 is 120. Then you have 60 left. So you have to multiply it by 15, 15 In the denominator, and 15 in the numerator. And so the denominator gives us 180. And 11 times 15. So 10 times 15 is 150. And then you have one more 15. So it's going to be 165. And then, finally, we have 13/15. To get our denominator to be 180, have to multiply it by 12. We already figured out that 12 times 15 is 180. So you have to multiply it by 12. That will give us 180 in the denominator. And so you have to also multiply the numerator by 12, so that we don't change the value of the fraction. We know 12 times 12 is 144. You could put one more 12 in there. You get 156. Did I do that right? 12 plus 144 is going to be 156. So we've rewritten each of these fractions with that new common denominator of 180. And now, it's very easy to compare them. You really just have to look at the numerators. So the smallest of the numerators is this 80 right over here. So 4/9 is the smallest. 4/9 is the least of these numbers. So let me just write it over here. So this is our ordering. We have 4/9 comes first, which is the same thing as 80/180. Let me write it both ways-- 80/180. Then the next the smallest number looks like it's this 135 right over here. I want to do it in that same color. The next one is going to be that 135/180, which is the same thing as 3/4. And then the next one is going to be-- let's see, we have the 144/180. So this is going to be the 144/180, which is the same thing as 4/5. And then we have two more. The next is this 156/180. So then we have our 156/180, which is the same thing as 13/15. And then we have one left over, the 165/180, which is the same thing-- I want to do that in yellow. We have our 165/180, which is the same thing as 11/12. And we're done. We have finished our ordering. So if you're doing the Khan Academy module on this, this is what you would input into that little box there.