- Hi, I'm Ashley and welcome to Math Park.

Today we're going to see how the denominator saves the day for a lady having trouble with fractions.

So, stay tuned.

(bell rings) (children cheer) - [Narrator] Get ready for a very special, super duper math class.

We're going on a field trip where learning math is tons of fun.

Our destination is the Math Park.

(people cheer) (children laugh and cheer) - Howdy chipmunks, welcome to Math Park.

I'm Park Ranger A. Rith Metic, but you can call me Ranger Rith.

Math Park is the place where hot dogs go quickly, and tomatoes try to play "ketchup."

Hey, there's the Math Park salsa dancers.

- [Narrator] It's Roberto and Janet, the Math Park salsa dancers, and they've got fraction cards.

What card does Roberto have?

One half.

And what card does Janet have?

Four fifths.

They both have fraction bars to make it easier to understand what the fractions are.

So what goes between them?

Greater than or less than?

Less than because one half is less than four fifths.

And having the fraction bars makes it really easy to see.

Now, let's see.

Are they going to do what they normally do?

Yes, they are going to rotate, change places.

Now, what goes between them?

Greater than.

Because four fifths is greater than one half.

They do seem to be having a good time.

I guess it's because they really like dancing with fractions.

See you later, guys.

- So you see, we've used the greater than and less than signs when comparing two fractions, but we never used the equal sign until now.

- Oh, thank goodness you're open.

- Yes, ma'am.

- You know, you look like you could be an identical twin for my husband Bill.

- Well, I'm not.

I don't even know anyone named Bill.

How can I help you today?

- I'm in desperate need of one half.

I used to have one half, but then I accidentally dropped it, and it fractioned all over the floor.

- Oh, not to worry.

Take a look at this.

- Uh, what's that?

- One half.

- That's not one half, that's two fourths.

See, two out of four of the sections are shaded.

- Yes, it is two fourths, but it's also one half.

If you look closely, one half of the square is shaded.

- I guess so, but- - Ah, not to worry.

I have another model.

- That's not one half.

That's three sixths.

- Yes, but look again.

You'll see that half of the rectangle is shaded.

- By golly, you're right.

You know, I do like the colors, mmm but- - But you need to see more.

Follow me.

- Four eighths?

- One half.

See half the circle is shaded.

- Oh, well you're right.

I do like the composition.

This is probably my favorite so far.

- But, I have one more.

Let's go check it out.

And here it is.

- Five tenths, but wait, don't tell me.

It's also one half because half of the bar is also shaded.

- You learn quickly.

- But don't you have any normal, regular one halves?

- My dear madam, that is so last year.

- Well, I suppose I do need to stay in fashion.

After all, all of these fractions are equal to one half.

There's two fourths, and three sixths, and four eighths, and five tenths.

This is going to be such a difficult decision.

I'm going to take the five tenths.

- Excellent choice, madam.

Can I help you with anything else while you're here?

- One more thing.

While we're on the topic of halves, what is half of eight?

- Four.

- Four, how do you get four?

I always thought it was three or zero.

- How do you figure that?

- Well, if you cut it in half this way, it's three, and if you cut it in half this way, it's zero.

(bell dings) (upbeat music) - Trying to find out if two fractions are equivalent can sometimes lead to arguments.

- Have you seen the weather report today?

- Weather report, yeah, yeah.

It's supposed to be beautiful weather today- - Hey, look it's a fraction bar.

- A fraction bar, yeah.

- Hey it's divided into nine equal parts.

Three of them are shaded.

That means it's three ninths, sure three ninths.

- Well, it is a fraction bar, but that's one third.

Look, see there's the one third, and those are the empty thirds, see.

- One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

One, two, three, three ninths are shaded.

- Actually it's one third.

- Three ninths.

- No, it's one third.

- Three ninths.

- Look, one third.

- Three ninths.

- Anyone could see, it's one third.

- Three ninths, three ninths.

- Oh, stop your quibbling.

You see, three ninths is equivalent to one third.

- Ah.

I think so.

- It is.

- Yeah.

What's equivalent?

- Equivalent means equal or the same.

So, three ninths is equal or the same as one third.

- Wow.

Ranger Rith, thanks.

That's really cleared things up.

- Yeah.

- Glad to be of service fellas.

- Man, I'm glad he came.

See, it is one third.

I was right.

- No, I was.

- No, no, no, no, it's one third, he said so.

They're equivalent.

- Yeah, but I was right.

- No, I was right.

It's one third.

- I was.

- No, I was.

- I was.

- I was right.

- I was.

- I was right.

- I was.

- I was right.

- I was.

- You rapscallions, who's making all that noise around here?

- [Both] He was.

- Hey, why has he got the umbrella?

(thunder booms) - [Man] Okay, there it is again.

Three ninths.

Okay, I understand that.

But what were those yahoos arguing about before?

They kept saying three ninths is the same thing as one third.

I don't get it.

Can you help me out here to make me understand it better?

Okay, let's see.

There's another bar.

It seems to be the same length, the same size as the other one.

Okay, but oh okay.

Now it's divided into three equal parts.

So that would make them thirds, and oh okay, now one third of the bottom bar is shaded in.

And it's the same amount of red as on three ninths.

Okay, now I get it.

Three ninths is equal to one third.

Thanks guys, I'll sleep better tonight.

(upbeat music) - Five tenths.

Oh, five tenths is the same as, one half.

- [Narrator] One half.

Three fourths.

What goes between them?

Greater than, less than, or equal.

If you said less than, you are correct.

One half is less than three fourths.

(dramatic western music) - Howdy Greenhorns.

I'm Math Dillon, and we're gonna have a little quick draw contest to see who's faster at mathematics.

Me or you.

Here's how it's gonna work.

I'm gonna have two fractions above my head, and you have to decide what goes between them, greater than, less than, or equal sign.

Are you ready?

Get set, not yet.

Draw.

(Math Dillon laughs) Did you get greater than?

If you did, you're right 'cause three sixths is greater than one fourth.

Whoopitee ding dang, woo hoo!

If you got that right, than you're faster than a rattlesnake on roller skates.

I'm gonna get ya next time.

(Math Dillon laughs) - [Woman] One fourth.

Two eighths.

Now, what goes between them?

Greater than, less than, or equal?

If you said equal, good for you darling.

You were correct.

- I'm the Numerator.

- And I'm the Denominator.

- Wow, this is a tricky one.

We have a circle model of a fraction, but the shaded in area is not all together.

Holy circumference!

- Not to worry, bro.

I'm the Denominator, and I can help us get out of this quagmire.

Imagine if we could move all of the shaded areas together like this.

Now, what fraction of the circle is shaded in?

- It looks like three sixths to me, but if you look closely, what other fraction do you see?

One half.

Three sixths is equivalent or equal to one half.

(phone rings) - I see.

We'll be there right away.

Bro, it's Mrs. Applebee, she's got a problem with improper fractions.

- Oh, those improper fractions.

They are so ill-mannered.

To the rescue.

- It's that way.

- [Man] Well, that looks pretty cool.

Let's see, what fraction is that showing?

What part is shaded in red?

Two sixths.

Two out of the six parts are red, and on this one, one out of the three parts are red, so that's one third.

But what goes between them?

Greater than, less than, or equal?

This one's kind of tough.

Can you help me out here?

Okay, that helped.

Now, it's easier to compare them.

What goes between them?

Equal.

Two sixths is equal to one third.

Thanks for the help guys.

(gong crashes) - Hyuh!

Hyuh!

Eighths.

Four eighths.

Four eighths is the same as one half.

(dramatic music) (horn blows) - Did you hear that?

That means Math Park is closing for today.

Until Math Park reopens, I salute you math chipmunks.

(children cheer) - But we want two of the cupcakes to not have frosting on them, correct?

- Yes.

- Watch.

- That's amazing.

- [Ranger Rith] Math Park is presented by Lucky Cat Productions.

(upbeat music)