Number Town, USA
Home of the Fighting Rationals

On the Computer - Family Fractions

  • Play the dynamic version of this activity on the computer. Use the arrow keys to move the fraction ID cards around until all of them snap to a spot on a color pad and no longer can be moved. What causes the attraction? What do the different color pads attract? Find out by playing Family Fractions!


Fractions in Fractionville - They need to go home!
Play below. Clicking on any sprite switches it's form from fraction to picture ID (and vice versa).


Family Fractions (clip from the lesson) from ihor charischak on Vimeo.


 Did you know that  before the Grand Union (as dramatized in the Weird Number) fractions only lived in Fractionville? To get more familiar with fractions you should play Family Fractions! In the game you become a fraction. Which fraction you ask? That will depend on the contents of a letter that you receive. (If you play this at school, all your classmates will be fractions as well as you and your teacher will give you your letter with your identification (ID) in it. See Teacher page.

If you are playing on the computer then try to get the lowest time you can get to bring all the fractions to their home position on the color pads. (Click on green flag below left to start.)
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So what happened? Were you successful? Let's review what we learn from playing Family Fractions.

All fractions belong to some family. For example, 1/2, 2/4, and 5/10 all belong to the same family. Each family is named after its simplest (in lowest terms) member who usually is the head of the family. In this case, the simplest member is 1/2. So he/she heads up the 1/2 family!

There are many families in Fractionville. Fractions which belong to the same family can be thought of as "clones" of each other. For example, 4/6 and 2/3 are clones. Why? Because if you multiply the 2 and 3 by 2 you get 4/6.

The cloning number is the number of times you multiply (or divide) the numerator and the denominator to get another (equivalent*) fraction. For example, to clone 3/5 so it becomes 12/20, what should you multiply the numerator and denominator by?


The cloning number is 4. Do you get that? Of course, you do.

Questions to ponder:

1. If your family name is, say 1/3, what can you say about all the fractions that belong to your family? Pick out the members of the 1/3 family below. Explain why not everyone belongs.

2/6, 3/12, 5/15, 25/75

2. How does your family (say it is 1/3) compare to the 1/2 family? (How do their photo IDs compare?) Hmmm. You don't have to think very long before I tell you.

Note: All the information that I offer you is valuable because you will be playing games at the Fraction Arcade. And you don't want to be a loser, right?



 Another way to ask my question is: Who would you say is bigger? 1/3 or 1/2? Why?

In addition to comparing ID cards (see figure above) in Number Town you can tell which fraction is bigger by observing your fellow fraction's actions. In fact, if you should happen to meet another fraction on the street and that fraction is bigger, then you should yield the “right of way” to them. 

For example, If 5/8 was strolling down the street and noticed that 2/3 was walking towards her in the opposite direction. What should 5/8ths do?

Should 5/8ths “yield” the right of way to 2/3? Or should she just keep walking?

As it turns out 5/8ths is smaller than 2/3 so she should yield the right of way. If you get it wrong you will crash and and have to pay a fine. How much, you ask. That information is coming up. Stay tuned...