Fractions

What is a fraction?

A fraction splits a whole into equal parts. The bottom number (the denominator) tells you how many equal parts the whole is cut into, and the top number (the numerator) tells you how many of those parts you have. This tool draws every fraction two ways at once — a divided bar and a divided circle (pie) — so the same idea shows up in two familiar shapes.

How to use this tool

• Show — set the top and bottom numbers, then press play to shade the parts one at a time. Tap the big fraction to hear the numbers.
• Compare — build two fractions side by side and see whether the first is less than, equal to, or greater than the second (<, =, >).
• Equivalent — split each part into 2, 3, or 4 to see that the shaded amount stays the same, so 1/2 = 2/4 = 3/6.

Why it helps

Seeing the same fraction as both a bar and a pie helps children realize a fraction is an amount, not just two numbers stacked up. Watching parts shade in — and watching each part split without changing the shaded area — builds the intuition behind comparing and simplifying fractions later on.

Good for

Grades 2–5: introducing halves, thirds, and fourths; comparing fractions; and a first, visual look at equivalent fractions before moving on to common denominators.