Calculating One-Sixth of a Quantity

A fraction expresses part of a whole quantity. For example, if you cut a whole pie into six equal pieces, and then eat one slice, you’ve just eaten 1/6th of the pie. Working with fractions is easy if you understand the concept.

Step 1

Turn your whole number into a fraction by putting it over the number “1.” For instance, 24 will become “24/1.”

Step 2

Multiply 1/6 by 24/1. When multiplying fractions, there is no need to find a common denominator. The top part of the fraction, the numerator, is multiplied straight across, where 1 x 24 = 24. The denominator is also multiplied straight across, where 6 x 1 = 6. The final fraction is 24/6.

Step 3

Divide your numerator by your denominator to get your answer. In this case 24/6 = 4, meaning that 4 is 1/6th of 24.

Step 4

Multiply 1/6th of a fraction by another fraction without changing the denominator. For example if you need to find 1/6th of 3/4, then you multiply the two as follows 1/6 x 3/4 to get 3/24.

Step 5

Simplify 3/24 by dividing with a common denominator. In this example, the common denominator is 3, which is the highest number that divides evenly into top and bottom number. So, 3/24 divided by 3/3 equals 1/8. So 1/6th of 3/4 is 1/8.

References

• The Math Page: Multiply and Divide Fractions