Today in class, we reviewed multiplying and dividing by fractions. Multiplying and dividing by fractions is easier than adding and subtracting by fractions.

When you multiply by fractions, all you have to do is multiply across. You multiply the numerators together, and the denominators together. For example:

2/5 * 5/8. You multiply the numerators, 2 and 5, together, then the denominators, 5 and 8, together, and you end up with 10/40, which can be simplified to 1/4ths.

Another example is 1/2 * 3/4. you multiply 1 and 3 to get 3 in the numerator, and 2 and 4 to get 8 in the denominator, so you get 3/8ths.

When you divide by fractions, you take the first number and keep it the same, and you multiply it by the reciprocal of the second number, which is the fraction flipped, so 3/4 would be 4/3. For example:

1/2 divided by 5/6, you first make it 1/2 and 6/5, then multiply, so 1/2 * 5/6 is 5/12ths.

Another example is 3/4 divided by 4/5. you switch around 4/5 to 5/4, and then multiply to get 15/12, which is equivalent to 1 and 1/4.

It is the same thing with negatives, except that if you are multiplying or dividing one negative and one positive, it will be negative, and if it is two negatives, it will be positive. For example:

-5/8 *1/2 is -5/16.

-3/4 *-6/7 is 9/14