Comparing fractions word numbers

A word problem adds one step that a row of fractions skips: deciding which number belongs to which person before any comparing happens. At this age, that bookkeeping causes more errors than the arithmetic.

The solution page models a habit worth copying. Each story gets two labeled lines, such as the fraction of employees that buys salad, 3/4, then a boxed comparison, then a full-sentence answer. Problem 3 also flips the question to ask who bought a lesser fraction, which forces a careful reread.

The comparing itself is 4.NF.A.2.

Explaining an order in a real context is 6.NS.C.7.b.

Read problem 3 aloud together and stop after the second sentence. "Who bought 3/7, and who bought 5/17?" Have your child underline each name with its fraction before comparing.

Then the comparison: 5/17 against 3/7. Cross-multiplying gives 35 against 51, so 5/17 is smaller. The probable slip here is the bigger denominator again, since 17 looks like more than 7.

A note for parents on problem 3: the story says Stanley bought 3/7 and Mike bought 5/17, but the solution swaps the names and concludes Stanley. Mike bought the lesser fraction. Problems 1 and 2 are correct: fruits win with 7/9, and Miss Sarah marked more with 7/10.

Turn on a basketball game and the word problems write themselves. If one team made 7 of 10 free throws and another made 5 of 9, have your child decide which team shot better and explain how.

At the grocery store, two bags of apples with a few bruised ones in each make the same kind of comparison: 2 of 9 against 3 of 12.

Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, follows a student who sees every part of the day as a math problem; reading it after this page makes the stories feel less like homework.

If your child spotted the swapped names in problem 3, praise the reading: "You matched every name to its number." Ordering a mix of fractions and decimals comes next.