Fractions
Word problem involving fractions and multiplication
At a certain school, of the students are girls. Today, of the girls brought their lunch. What fraction of the students are girls who brought their lunch
today?
Write your answer in simplest form.
of the students

To find the fraction of students who are girls that brought their lunch, we need to multiply the fraction of students who are girls by the fraction of those girls who brought lunch. First, we know of the students are girls. Then, of those girls brought their lunch.

Now, we multiply:
.

So, of the students are girls who brought their lunch today.

Speaking of fractions, did you know that they were used in ancient Egypt? The Egyptians had a unique approach to fractions, representing them as sums of unit fractions—fractions where the numerator is always 1. This began in around 1750 BC and showcased their advanced mathematical understanding; they even had a specific symbol for them!

If you’re ever confused about multiplying fractions, remember the “top times top, bottom times bottom” rule. Just multiply the numerators together to get the new numerator, and the denominators together for the new denominator. A common mistake is forgetting to simplify the fraction afterwards. Keep it simple with that, and you’ll get the right answer every time!