Pizza Party Fractions

Pre-Algebra · Axiom Academy

Cut a pizza into equal slices, take a few, and you've written a fraction. The bottom counts the slices; the top counts what you took. A fraction is just slices of a pizza Fractions can feel like strange new symbols, but you already do them every time food gets shared. Cut a pizza into equal pieces, take some, and the fraction writes itself — no formula to memorize, just counting. Watch one whole pizza get cut into 4 equal slices , then watch 3 of them get taken. The slices you cut become the bottom number; the slices you take become the top number. That's the fraction. Top counts what you took, bottom counts the equal slices the whole was cut into. Here: 3 taken out of 4 slices is three-fourths. The pizza slicer: cut, then take Drag the first slider to cut the pizza into however many equal slices you want — that sets the bottom number. Then drag the second slider to take some of those slices — that sets the top number. The fraction updates live as you go. Every fraction is a "take M out of N equal slices" instruction — M on top, N on the bottom. Here's exactly half a pizza , shaded. Drag the slider to slice that same pizza into more and more equal pieces. The shaded amount never changes — but watch the fraction get a new name each time: 1/2, then 2/4, then 3/6, then 4/8 … all the same pizza. More cuts, bigger numbers — same pizza. Fractions that name the same amount are called equivalent . You can already read any fraction

This is the written version of the interactive lesson above. See the full Pre-Algebra course.