Riley the Raccoon holds up his lantern over three long paper strips.
"Here is a puzzle," he says with a sly grin behind his mask.
"I folded one strip in half, one in fourths and one in eighths."
"Then I colored the same amount on each one."
Bennie the Bear looks closely at the strips.
"The first has 1 part shaded. The second has 2, and the third has 4."
"But the shaded parts are all the same length," Bennie notices.
Riley wiggles his striped tail. "So are they the same fraction?"
Each bar has the same amount shaded.
So 1/2 = 2/4 = 4/8. These are equivalent fractions.
The parts get smaller, but there are more of them.
Twice as many parts, each half as big, cover the same amount.
This picture shows 2/3 = 4/6 = 8/12.
The dot for 2/4 and the dot for 4/8 sit at the same spot. Both are one half.
| Sentence | True or false? |
|---|---|
| 1/2 = 2/4 | ? |
| 2/3 = 4/6 | ? |
| 1/3 = 2/3 | ? |
| 2/5 = 4/10 | ? |
Puzzle solved! Tomorrow we find equivalent fractions by multiplying.