which value is closest to 1/2 ?

[wooden cave]

is there a quick way to pick the correct fraction ? how can i eyeball these ?

[shy fog]

Try seeing How far each is away from 1/2 and going from there

[plush summit]

Most accurate way would be to make all the numerators or denominators the same and then compare to see which one is closet. Or you can convert each into a decimal.

[worthy fossil]

What I’m thinking is that you’d graph them out like you’d do typically

and compare them to a graph of 1 half

that’s the easiest way you can visualize this

[blazing token]

Higher the denominator, more pieces a number has been divided into (in this case, 1 being divided into for example 7 pieces.). So more pieces mean that each increment will be worth less. For all of the rational numbers there, all of the numerators are 0.5 away from the exact half way point(eg 4 rather than 3.5/7). So, this would mean that 5/9 is closer to 1/2 than 4/7. Bear in mind the fact that for A,B,C,D numerator increases by 1 and denominator increases by 2 (same amounts). Good luck, hope this helps.

[fast gull]

helps for each one, half the denominator and as u said eye ball, see which numerator is closest to half of the corresponding denominator. (bigger denominators have smaller pieces so 5/8 is closer to 1/2, than 4/6 even though both are 1 bigger than half of their given denominators

[wooden cave]

i still dont get it

if i half each fraction and measure the difference between the numerator and denomeration, is that valid ?

i cant use calculators so i have to come up with a process to eye ball

[runic verge]

You could compare them

But finding lcm

[blazing token]

I don't know if you know but the answer is D and the way i worked this out was the fact that the numerators and the denominators have increased with the same amount. Small denominators mean that when you increase the numerator by 1, the number will increase by a relatively huge amount. So If the denominators are bigger, then when you increase a numerator by one, it won't change by much. They way I worked it out was look at these numbers, find out how much change is needed for each option (which was in this case 0.5 for each numerator), see which one has the highest denominator (option E, but E breaks the pattern, it doesn't go up by the same amount for numerator and the denominator) so D. As the denominator is the highest for these sets of numbers, when you increase the numerator of this number by 0.5, it will cause the least change from 1/2.

[topaz slate]

Divide the numerator by half the denominator whichever one is closest to 1 is the correct answer

[fast gull]

look if ur rlly struggling to work it out looks for a common denominator after u eliminate the ones u know are not correct

[wooden cave]

thanks guys

[wooden cave]

so let me get this straight. If the values to choose from, increment at a steady rate for both numerator and denomenator - then, the smallest value is the one with the highest denomenator ? ex. A B C D all have the same increments. because the denomenator of d is the greatest, it is also closest to 1/2 ? forget about E as it breaks the pattern.

[runic verge]

Have to convert fractions to equalivent fractions with common denominator

Example if we compare 4/2 and 2/3, LCM of them is 6, and ask ourselves what number multiple with 3 to gain 6 which is 2, so we multiple 2 on that whole fraction

8/6 > 6/6

Which means 4/2 > 2/3

You got it?

@wooden cave

[blazing token]

For this question, yes with this reasoning. We could go higher with these values too, 8/15, 9/17, 10/19, as we get higher we get closer and closer to 1/2👍