How do you divide fractions without a calculator?

I’m in high school going on to college and i still don’t know how to divide fractions. Can someone show me step by step an example of how to. It’s not that i’m slow or anything, but my elementary school that i went to never went over fractions.

Without any explanation of theory the best way I find to do it is to flip one of the fractions and multiply them together. For example:

(2/3) / (4/9)
will then be written as…
(2/3) / (9/4)
You then multiply both the numerators and both the denominators
2*9=18
3*4=12
and you get the answer:
18/12
which can simplify down to
3/2 or 1 and 1/2

hope i helped

Ps it doesn’t matter which fraction you flip as long as its only one that you do flip.

2 Responses to “How do you divide fractions without a calculator?”

  1. Jean Ann Says:

    I am not sure what you mean exactly, but if you mean for example 1/2 divided by 2/3, then the rule is to divide by a fraction, multiply by its reciprocal (the fraction flipped over.)
    So this problem is 1/2 times 3/2, multiply numerators (top number) and denominators (bottom number) and get 3/4.
    If you are in high school, ask your math teacher to show you some examples.
    References :

  2. Jackinabox Says:

    Without any explanation of theory the best way I find to do it is to flip one of the fractions and multiply them together. For example:

    (2/3) / (4/9)
    will then be written as…
    (2/3) / (9/4)
    You then multiply both the numerators and both the denominators
    2*9=18
    3*4=12
    and you get the answer:
    18/12
    which can simplify down to
    3/2 or 1 and 1/2

    hope i helped

    Ps it doesn’t matter which fraction you flip as long as its only one that you do flip.
    References :
    The British school system :P

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