Learning fractions can be a conceptual idea, so the more we can establish real-life examples, the easier it is for us to comprehend what fractions represent and how they work in real life. It is easy to encounter some fantastic examples of fractions at our home. From the refrigerator to the partitions, there are fractions all around us. How often would you use a word in a talk to describe something that is fractions? You might say something like, “We require two-thirds of a cup of sugar for baking a cake”. The issue is that we rarely raise our terminology of fractions beyond this in an ordinary language unless we intentionally attempt to include this in our talks. So, let’s understand the mathematical meaning of fractions. A fraction is a part of a whole.
We can show fractions in many activities we do in our daily existence. Fruit is one of the great examples where we can describe fractions. Every time we cut an apple, guava, or any fruit, we take a piece of the whole. We can represent this piece of apple in terms of fractions. Suppose the apple is divided into eight equal parts, then we can say that “I took a one-eighth portion of the apple,” which can be expressed as 1/8. Here, 1 is the numerator that indicates the number of parts chosen out of a total number of parts. Thus, the total number of parts will be treated as the denominator of that fraction.
Some more real-life examples of fractions include:
Speed in a fraction of seconds: The shutter speed of a camera is generally measured in terms of fractions. In general, a still image will be captured at 1/100th of a second speed. We put a faster shutter speed of about 1/1000th of a second for things in motion to avoid blur pictures. Thus, the setting of this is essential to capture ideal photos.
Fractions in fashion: Tailoring is all about the appropriate measurement of material. A meter and an extra ½ metre might be required to make a school shirt for a girl. The curtains for windows might be 1 ½ or one metre long based on the requirement. Thus, a suitable fraction always leads to utterly suited apparel.
Making a timetable: When a student wants to make a timetable for a subject, it is required to divide it into portions for ease of study; this can be done using fractions. For example, if a student wishes to study 5 chapters in Maths out of 10, it can be represented as 5/10, and again, it is a fraction. We can say that division plays an important role in making fractions.
Apart from the above-mentioned requirements, we can define many scenarios in our daily life. Suppose while making furniture, measurements will be taken in whole numbers as well as infractions depending on the designs. Also, when we buy a length of wood and want to make four frames to fit vertically, we need to divide your wood length into four parts. Here also we will apply fractions to complete the work effectively. In this way, we can apply fractions in different ways.
