Objectives
Students understand that the product of two fractions is the product of the numerator and the product of the denominator; in general, (a/b)x(c/d) = (ac/bd). They understand that multiplying any number by a fraction less than one creates a product less than the number; multiplying any number by a fraction greater than one produces a product greater than the number.
Vocabulary
commutative property of multiplication
reciprocal
Students can think about the finding the product of two fractions as finding the area; where each multiplier represents the base or the height of a rectangle.
Be sure students understand that the whole number 2 would be represented by shading two of the unit squares and by the fraction (2/1).
What is the product of (4/7) x (3/2)?
Answer: (12/14)
The product of two fractions is the product of the numerators and the product of the denominators.
Students use unit square models to explore multiplying fractions by fractions; yielding products that are greater than 1.
Help students to connect the product of the denominators with the number of rectangles in the unit square and the product of the numerators with the number of shaded rectangles.
