How to work with Fractions

We all need to learn about fractions when we are at school. But before you start practising  – check out some of these amazing facts about numbers. Let’s start with some huge numbers!

1 billion:

Did you know that in the UK, this used to be worth a million million? However, the USA determined that a billion should be a thousand million – and so it became the same in the UK!  In 1800 there were a billion people in the world. The world population is now thought to have exceeded 8 billion!!! And is rising all the time. There are also a billion bacteria in just one teaspoon of soil.

1 million: 

If you were to count non-stop, it would take you about 12 days to count up to 1,000,000. It is also the number of queen ants that were found in the largest discovered ant’s nest – at least up until the year 2000. Alongside all these queen ants were an estimated 306 million worker ants!  Apparently, a bloodhound’s sense of smell is one million times stronger than ours! Their lives must be very smelly.

Thirty:

According to superstition, if you dream about the number 30, it means someone is lying to you. Adult cats also have 30 teeth.

Five:

Apparently a small worm has five hearts. Traditionally the number 5 is used to symbolise the human body (one head, two arms and two legs). In the last 500 million years there have been 5 mass extinctions, one of which wiped out the dinosaurs.

If you ever struggle with fractions, or just  need a reminder, check out our “How to work with Fractions” guide.  This will explain how to solve problems for all ages, from working out equivalent fractions in primary to solving algebraic fractions in Year 11. It  also covers calculations, fractions of amounts and ordering.

Click on the picture below to view our useful guide.