Year 6 Multiply and Divide Fractions

Multiplying fractions is in many ways the easiest of the operations when dealing with fractions. Put simply, there are three steps:
- multiply the top numbers (the numerators)
- multiply the bottom numbers (the denominators)
- simplify the fraction if necessary
Whilst this is quite easy, the reason why it works is more complex. Children are used to the idea that when a number is multiplied by another number it gets larger – this is not the case with fractions.
A half multiplied by a half is a quarter. The question can be put in a different way to make this clear:
What is half of a half?
Why not take a look at our latest multiplication and division fraction worksheets for Year 6.
Go to Year 6 Fractions