TG For Book 8-1 Unit 1 NS 1-33

NS8-1 Factors and Multiples
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m7, 7m12, Students will learn to identify factors and multiples and learn how to find
8m1, 8m2, 8m6 all pairs of numbers that multiply to a given number
WNCP: 6N3, [R, C]
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED
Knows the times tables

Can divide 1-digit numbers into 2- and 3-digit numbers
Vocabulary
factor
multiple Defining multiples and factors. See Questions 1-5.
Bonus
Question 4:
7 is not a multiple of 0.
The only number that is a multiple of 0 is 0 itself.
Question 5:
3 is not a factor of 1.
Only 1 is a factor of 1.
process Expectation Using an organized list to find factors of whole numbers. As a class, find
Organizing data all pairs of numbers that multiply to 12. Use Questions 6-8 as models.
EXTRA PRACTICE: for Questions 7, 8: Find all pairs of numbers that

multiply to give 15. Then cross out the pairs that are repeated.
How to know when to stop listing numbers to pair up. Emphasize that
you don’t want to have to try all the numbers up to the number you’re trying
to find the factors of, and Question 8 suggests that you shouldn’t have to; it
seems like half the pairs are repeated anyway. Discuss how you can know
when to stop. Begin, with class participation, listing the pairs that multiply to
48. ASK: Once you know that 6 is paired up with 8, how do you know that 8
is paired up with 6? (because 6 × 8 = 8 × 6)
ASK: What is larger: 8 × 6 or 9 × 7? How do you know? Emphasize that

process Expectation when both numbers are bigger, their product is bigger too. ASK: If 9 is paired
Using logical reasoning up, can it be paired up with a number larger than 6? Can 9 × “something
greater than 6” be equal to 8 × 6 = 48? Explain that if 9 is paired up, it has
to be paired up with either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Then check each one in turn on
your list. Since each possibility is ruled out, 9 must not be paired up.
process Expectation ASK: Can 10 be paired up? How do you know? (Students might use similar
Other ways to solve a problem reasoning or might instead state that 48 is not a multiple of 10. Discuss
both answers.)
process Expectation ASK: Can 11 be paired up? Continue in this way until all students see that
Using logical reasoning the only numbers larger than 6 that are paired up are paired with 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, or 6. Explain that once you find a number that already occurs in a pair,
you know that you’ve found all the pairs that multiply to 48.
Number Sense 8-1 1

EXTRA PRACTICE: Find all pairs of numbers that multiply to
a) 26
1 26 c) 72 1 72 e) 30 1 30 Bonus 180
2 13 2 36 2 15 1 180
3 24 3 10 2 90
b) 42
1 42
4 18 5 6 3 60
2 21
6 12 4 45

3 14 f) 91 1 91
8 9 5 36
6 7 7 13
6 30
d) 63 1 63
9 20
3 21 10 18
7 9 12 15
When the number is equal to another number multiplied by itself (i.e.,

a perfect square). Repeat the exercise for 100 instead of 48, this time
completing the first 10 rows of the chart. Emphasize that once you reach
10 × 10 = 100, any number more than 10, if it’s paired up, must be paired
up with a number less than 10. For example, if 11 × something = 100,
then the something must be less than 10. But we know which numbers are
paired up with a number less than 10 because we’ve done all the numbers
up to 10! Once we find a number paired up with itself, we can stop.
EXTRA PRACTICE: Find all pairs of numbers that multiply to

a) 49 c) 81 d) 144 Bonus 441
1 49 1 81 1 144
7 7 3 27 2 72 1 441
b) 64 9 9 3 48 3 147
1 64
4 36 7 63
2 32
6 24 9 49

4 16
8 18 21 21
8 8
9 16

12 12
2 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

NS8-2 Factors and Multiples
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m2, 7m7, 7m12 Students will find the lowest common multiple (LCM) and greatest
WNCP: 6N3, [C, PS, R] common factor (GCF) of a set of numbers by listing all the multiples
or all the factors of the numbers. Students will investigate properties
of LCMs and GCFs.
Vocabulary PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED

lowest common multiple Can find factors and multiples
(LCM)
greatest common factor
(GCF) Listing multiples to find the lowest common multiple.
consecutive See Questions 1-5.
Bonus
Question 3: Find the LCM of 2, 3, and 4. (ANSWER: 12)
Question 4: Find the LCM of:
ANSWERS:
a) 6, 8, and 10 120
b) 3, 4, and 6 12
c) 4, 6, and 9 36
Question 5: How can you find all the common multiples of two numbers
if you know the lowest common multiple? (ANSWER: All the common
multiples are multiples of the lowest common multiple. Students
can discover this by picking numbers and checking. EXAMPLE: The
common multiples of 4 and 10 are 20, 40, 60,…, which are all multiples
of the LCM, 20.)
How can you find all the common multiples of three numbers if you
know the lowest common multiple? (Answer: same as above.)
Listing factors to find the greatest common factor.

See Questions 6-7.
Bonus
Question 7: List the factors and then find the GCF of 30, 42, 60, and 96.
ANSWER:
30: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30
42: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42
60: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60
96: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 96
So the GCF is 6.
Investigating the GCF of two consecutive numbers.

See Investigation 1 and Question 8.
process Expectation Bonus
Making and investigating Investigation 1: Investigate the GCF of two consecutive even numbers.
conjectures EXAMPLES: 6 and 8, or 18 and 20. (The GCF will always be 2.)
Number Sense 8-2 3

Question 8: Without listing the factors, find the GCF of:
a) 396 and 400 (ANSWER: Since the GCF must divide 4

(= 400 - 396), the only possibilities are 1, 2, and 4. Check each
of these in turn, starting with 4. Since 4 is indeed a factor of both,
4 is the GCF.)
b) 398 and 402 (ANSWER: Since the GCF must divide 4

(= 402 - 398), the only possibilities are 1, 2, and 4.
Since 4 doesn’t divide into them and 2 does, 2 is the GCF).
c) 372 and 377 (GCF is 1 or 5; GCF = 1)
d) 291 and 293 (GCF is 1 or 2; GCF = 1)
e) 31 755 and 31 780 (GCF is 1, 5, or 25; GCF is 5)

Bonus
2 137 624 and 2 137 644
ANSWER: The GCF must be a factor of 20 (the difference between the
two numbers), so the GCF must be 1, 2, 4, 5, 10 or 20. The largest of
these possibilities that divides the two numbers is 4, since 5 is not a
factor of either.
Investigating the relationship between the GCF, the LCM, and the
process Expectation product of two numbers. Fill in the first 3 rows of the chart as a class,
then have students complete the chart on their own. When students have
Looking for a pattern See
finished A and B, write this equation on the board:
Investigation 2.
a × b = GCF × LCM
To help students with C, tell them to look for a similar problem for ideas.
process Expectation Write the equation from B below the equation already on the board:
Looking for a similar problem a × b = GCF × LCM
for ideas 24 = 2 × 12
Explain that C is asking them how to get the LCM from a × b and the GCF.
This is like asking how to get 12 from 24 and 2. Ask a volunteer to tell you
how to get 12 from 24 and 2 when you know that 24 is 2 × 12, then write on
the board 12 = 24 ÷ 2. Have a volunteer write how to get the LCM from
a × b and the GCF:
LCM = a × b ÷ GCF
Bonus
Find two numbers a and b where the GCF is 2 and the LCM is 12.
(ANSWER: 4 and 6 or 2 and 12)
Have students find the LCM of these pairs by first finding
the GCF:
ANSWERS:
a) 10 and 14 10 × 14 ÷ 2 = 70
b) 35 and 40 35 × 40 ÷ 5 = 280
c) 45 and 60 45 × 60 ÷ 15 = 180
d) 32 and 44 32 × 44 ÷ 4 = 352

Bonus
10 000 and 10 020
ANSWER: 10 000 × 10 020 ÷ 20 = 100 200 000 ÷ 20
= 10 020 000 ÷ 2
= 5 010 000
To help students with D, encourage them to circle the rows in the chart
where the LCM is the same as the product a × b. They should notice that
process Expectation the GCF is always 1 in this case. To see why, look at the formula:
Looking for a pattern a × b = GCF × LCM
If a × b = LCM, then LCM = GCF × LCM, so GCF = 1.
Investigating the special case where a is a factor of b. See part E of

Investigation 2. In this case, it is not only true that a × b = GCF × LCM, but
in fact a = GCF and b = LCM.
Extensions
1. There are 56 girls and 42 boys registered for a team competition. The
organizers would like the same number of girls on each team and the
process Expectation same number of boys on each team.
Looking for a pattern a) Which of the following numbers must be a factor of both 56 and 42:
the number of teams OR the number of people on each team?
ANSWER: # of teams × # of girls on each team = 56 and
# of teams × # of boys on each team = 42
Since the number of teams must divide both 56 and 42, it must be a
factor of both.
b) What is the greatest common factor of 56 and 42? What does this tell
you about the teams?
ANSWER: The GCF of 56 and 42 is 14, so 14 is the maximum number
of teams the competition can have. (In fact, with 14 teams, each team
would have 4 girls and 3 boys.)
process Expectation 2. Some students may wish to look for a relationship between a × b × c and
Revisiting conjectures that the GCF and LCM for a, b, and c, written as GCF(a, b, c) and
were true in one context LCM(a, b, c).
Some numbers for a, b, and c that students can use to investigate

include:
6, 10, 15 3, 10, 15 3, 4, 5 4, 6, 8 8, 12, 30
5, 7, 10 2, 4, 6 5, 10, 30 3, 4, 6 5, 7, 10
Students will find that there is no relationship involving just these

numbers. In fact, to find a relationship, students would also need to find
the GCF of each pair. The relationship is
a × b × c × GCF(a, b, c) = LCM(a, b, c) × GCF(a, b) × GCF(a, c) ×

GCF(b, c).
Number Sense 8-2 5

You could guide motivated students to discover this by creating a chart
with these headings:
a b c GCF(a, b, c) GCF(a, b) GCF(a, c) GCF(b, c) LCM(a, b, c)
and then a chart with these headings:
a × b × c × GCF(a, b, c)
GCF(a, b) × GCF(a, c) × GCF(b, c)
LCM(a, b, c)
using the same numbers for a, b, and c as above.
The reason this relationship exists is well beyond the grade 8

curriculum. However, if you are interested, here is the proof:
Take any prime number, say p. If we can show that p occurs the same
number of times in the prime factorization of a × b × c × GCF(a, b, c) as it
does in the prime factorization of LCM(a, b, c) × GCF(a, b) × GCF(a, c) ×
GCF(b, c), then the two numbers have the same prime factorization, so they
are equal. (See NS8-4 for more on prime factorization.)
Suppose that the prime factorization of a includes A copies of p.

Suppose that the prime factorization of b includes B copies of p.
Suppose that the prime factorization of c includes C copies of p.
And suppose that A < B < C.
How many copies of p are in the prime factorization of

a × b × c × GCF(a, b, c)?
ANSWER: A + B + C + A.
How many copies of p are in the prime factorization of

LCM(a, b, c) × GCF(a, b) × GCF(a, c) × GCF(b, c)?
ANSWER: C + A + A + B.
So p occurs the same number of times in the prime factorization of each

number. This is true for any prime number, so the prime factorizations of the
two numbers are the same. Therefore, the two numbers are equal.

NS8-3 Prime Numbers
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m17, 7m1, Students will decide which numbers are prime or composite for small
7m3, 7m5, 7m6, 7m7, numbers. Students will use Eratosthenes’ Sieve to find all prime
7m12 numbers less than 100.
WNCP: 6N3, [R, C,
CN, V] PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED
Can divide 2-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers

Can find factors
Vocabulary
factor Discovering the definition of prime and composite numbers. Display a chart
product with the numbers from 1 to 15 and their factors:
multiple
prime Number Factors
composite 1 1
2 1, 2
3 1, 3
4 1, 2, 4
process Expectation 5 1, 5
Looking for a pattern 6 1, 2, 3, 6
7 1, 7
8 1, 2, 4, 8
9 1, 3, 9
10 1, 2, 5, 10
11 1, 11
12 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12
13 1, 13
14 1, 2, 7, 14
15 1, 3, 5, 15
Tell your students that the numbers from 1 to 10 can be classified

as follows:
Prime Composite Neither Prime nor Composite
2, 3, 5, 7 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 1
Ask your students to look carefully at the classification and then ASK: Do
you think that 11 is prime? What about 12? Add them under “prime” and
“composite” respectively. Continue with 13, 14, and 15. Have students find
the factors of the numbers from 16 to 25 and then place those numbers in
the correct category. Do not encourage students to say the classifying rule
until all students can comfortably predict where a number belongs. Then
ask students to write down what they think prime and composite numbers
are. Emphasize that 1 is neither prime nor composite: How are 1 and its
factors different from the other numbers?
Summarize by saying that a prime number has exactly two factors and a
composite number has more than two factors. The number 1 is neither
prime nor composite because it has exactly one factor. Since any number
Number Sense 8-3 7

has 1 and itself as factors, a number is composite if it has at least one other
factor as well.
NOTE: Mathematicians do not include 0 as a composite number. In order

to write 0 as a product of two numbers, one of the two numbers must be
0, e.g., 0 × 3 = 0. But composite numbers can be written as the product
of two smaller whole numbers. If students ask about 0, you might say that
prime and composite numbers are only referring to numbers greater than 1.
Deciding if a number greater than 1 is prime or composite. Have students

decide whether these numbers are prime by dividing to see if any number
(besides 1 and the number itself) divides evenly into them:
a) 27 b) 28 c) 29 d) 30
process Expectation ASK: Which number was it hardest to check? (29) What made it so hard?
Reflecting on what made the (For the others, it was easy to see that either 2 or 3 divided into it, so we
problem easy or hard could stop after checking those factors, but for 29, we had to check all the
numbers to 28.)
Reflecting on other ways ASK: Do you need to check all the numbers from 1 to 28? Tell students that
to solve a problem. you are going to look for a pattern that will help them eliminate possible
Looking for a similar numbers as factors. We’ll look at 30 instead of 29 to get ideas. List the
problem for ideas. factors of 30:
1 2 3 5 6 10 15 30
Have students pair up the factors so that they multiply to give 30.
ANSWER: 1 × 30 2 × 15 3 × 10 5×6
ASK: What is the smallest factor of 30 greater than 1? (2) What is the largest
factor of 30 less than 30 itself? (15) Notice that these multiply to give 30.
This is because if there was a larger factor of 30, it would have to multiply
with something less than 2 to give 30. But there is no whole number
process Expectation between 1 and 2.
Using logical reasoning Have students predict the largest factor (other than the number itself) of
these numbers:
ANSWERS:
a) 20 10
b) 42 21
c) 36 18
d) 40 20
e) 28 14
ASK: What is the smallest factor of 45 other than 1? (3) What will the largest
factor of 45 (other than 45) be? (45 ÷ 3 = 15) Why? (Because if there was a
larger factor, it would have to multiply with something smaller than 3 to give
45, but 2 is not a factor, so there is no such number.)
Since 15 × 3 = 45, if 16 × something = 45, then that something has to be

less than 3, because 16 × “3 or more” is at least 48. So 15 is the largest
factor of 45, other than 45 itself.

Have students determine the largest possible factor of these numbers
(other than the number itself) by first finding the smallest factor
greater than 1:
a) 15 b) 16 c) 21 d) 35 e) 48
f) 49 g) 100 h) 99 i) 75 j) 80
SAMPLE ANSWER: i) The smallest factor of 75 greater than 1 is 3, so the

largest factor of 75 less than 75 is 75 ÷ 3 = 25.
Now return to the problem of determining the factors of 29, and whether
or not we really have to check all the numbers up to 28. Using what you
just learned from the factors of 30—look at the smallest possible factor
and predict the largest possible factor —any factor of 29 must be at least 2
and at most 14 (2 × 14 = 28). If a number more than 14 was a factor, what
would it multiply with? It would have to multiply with something at least 2,
but 15 × 2 is already too big, so the factor has to be less than 15. We’ve
now reduced our work by half!
But we know that 2 is not a factor because we checked, so the next

smallest possibility is 3. How large can the other factor be now? Well, any
factor must multiply with at least 3 to give 29, and 10 × 3 is already too
large, so the factor must be at most 9!
But 3 isn’t a factor either, which we can check by long division. The next
smallest number is 4, so any factor must multiply with at least 4 to give
29, and 8 × 4 is already too large, so we only have to check 4, 5, 6, and 7.
None of these are factors by long division, so 29 is prime. (Or, one could
eliminate 6 and 7 by the same reasoning—since 4 isn’t a factor, any factor
must multiply with at least 5 to make 29, but 6 × 5 is already too large, so
process Expectation we only need to check 5, but 5 isn’t a factor either.)
Organizing data Bonus
Question 7: Find all numbers in the 40s that are prime.
Question 10: Write 5 consecutive numbers that are also all composite.
(Sample answer: 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
Eratosthenes’ Sieve for finding prime numbers up to 30

Now tell your students that you will help them discover another way to
find all the prime numbers less than 30. (See also Question 11.) Write on
the board:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Start by using a very tedious method. ASK: Is 1 prime? (no, so cross it

out) Is 2 prime? (yes, because only 1 and 2 are factors) Is 3 prime? (yes,
because only 1 and 3 are factors) Is 4 prime? (no, because 2 is a factor,
so cross 4 out) Continue in this way until you have decided that 10 is not
prime. Then explain that you think this is a lot of work and you think there
has got to be a faster way.
Number Sense 8-3 9

Rewrite the numbers from 1 to 30 on the board, and cross out 1 again
because it is neither prime nor composite. Explain that this time, you will
eliminate all the composite numbers in a more efficient way. A number
is composite if it has a factor other than 1 and itself. So you will look for
numbers with these factors in an organized way.
Start by looking for numbers with the factor 2. Tell students that there is only
one number that has 2 as a factor and is prime. ASK: What number is that?
(2) Emphasize that any other number with 2 as a factor is not prime, so you
can cross all such numbers out:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
process Expectation Notice that you’ve already crossed out half the numbers! This is a lot
Reflecting on other ways to easier than checking the factors of each number separately.
solve a problem Now look for numbers with a factor of 3. Which number has 3 as a factor
but is prime? (3) Can any other number with 3 as a factor be prime? (no)
Why not? (because it has a factor other than 1 and itself) Circle the 3 and
then cross out the remaining multiples of 3. Emphasize that some multiples
of 3 will already be crossed out (because they are also multiples of
2, e.g., 24).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
process Expectation ASK: Why were the multiples of 2 easy to find? (they are every
Reflecting on what made a second number) Why are the multiples of 3 easy to find? (they are
problem easy or hard every third number)
Remind students that so far, you’ve tried the numbers 2 and 3 as factors.
What number should you try next? Students should see that they can
proceed systematically by trying the natural numbers in order (1, 2, 3,
4, 5,…) so they should try 4 next. However, you don’t have to try 4—any
number that has 4 as a factor also has 2 as a factor (any multiple of 4 is
also a multiple of 2) so you have already crossed those numbers out. ASK:
Which factor should we try next? (5) Is 5 prime? (yes) Can any of the other
multiples of 5 be prime? (no) Discuss why not. Then cross out all remaining
multiples of 5:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
process Expectation Now explain that if a number is less than 30 and composite, it has to
Using logical reasoning have a factor 2, 3, 4, or 5. This is because it must be the product of
two of its factors, and if the factors are both more than 5, then they are both
at least 6, in which case the number would be at least 6 × 6 = 36. So one
of the factors must be 2, 3, 4, or 5. But we have already crossed out all the
numbers that are multiples of 2, 3, 4, or 5, so we have found

all the composite numbers less than 30 and we can circle all the
remaining numbers.
Try to find all prime numbers less than 100. Challenge students to
explain why any composite number less than 100 will have a number less
than 10 as a factor. Then make the claim that any composite number less
than 100 will have either 2, 3, 5, or 7 as a factor, and challenge students to
explain why this is true. (We know the composite number has some number
less than 10 as a factor. Suppose, for example, it has 9 as a factor. Then it
will have 3 as a factor too. If it has 8 as a factor, it will have 2 as a factor. If it
has 6 as a factor, it will have both 2 and 3 as factors, and so on.)
Encourage students to use the hundreds chart from Question 11 to answer

Questions 12 and 13. Encourage students to try to find organized ways
ACTIVITIES
process Expectation Some mathematicians study codes in order to send messages in

Reflecting on what makes secret. For example, when you buy things online, you have to send
a problem easy or hard, your credit card number over the Internet, which is publicly accessible,
Connecting to the real world so the information has to be encoded to be safe. To solve this
problem, mathematicians like to find problems that are easy to do in
one direction but hard to reverse; they can use the “easy” direction
to encode a message, but someone would have to use the “hard”
direction to break the code and find the message.
Each number below is the product of two prime numbers. Find the
prime numbers and then verify your answer by calculating the product
of the two primes.
a) 38 b) 21 c) 55 d) 91 e) 143 f) 221
ASK: Which is easier to find: the two prime numbers that multiply to
221 or the product of 13 and 17? If you wanted to encode a message,
would you want the public information to be 13 and 17 (so that anyone
who wants to read the message has to multiply 13 and 17 to break

the code) or would you want the public information to be the number
221 (so that anyone who wants to read the message has to find the
factors of 221 to break the code)? Why? (It is easier to find a product,
since I just have to use the standard algorithm, but to find the factors
of a number, I have to try all the prime factors in order until I find one
that divides the number. To make it harder to break the code, force the
person to find the factors of a large number.)
A mathematician wants to make codes from numbers that have exactly

two prime factors. Which of the following “codes” would be easy to
break without a computer? Which would take more work to break
without a computer? (To break the code, find the two prime numbers
that multiply to give the number.) Don’t give students the answers
written below in brackets.
a) 46 (2 × 23) b) 299 (13 × 23)
Number Sense 8-3 11

c) 265 (5 × 53) d) 194 (2 × 97)
e) 141 (3 × 47) f) 391 (17 × 23)
g) 411 (3 × 137) h) 247 (13 × 19)
To build a message that is hard to break, would you use numbers

that are products of two large prime numbers or numbers that are
products of a small prime number and a large prime number? Why?
Tell students that to ensure that people cannot break codes, even with
the powerful computers available today, mathematicians use products
of prime numbers that are hundreds of digits long!
connection To fully understand Eratosthenes’ Sieve, students need to understand

if-then statements such as, “if 2, 3, or 4 was a factor of 5, then we would
Literature
have crossed the 5 out already.” To familiarize your students with if-then
process Expectation statements, you can go through the book Anno’s Hat Tricks by Akihiro
Using logical reasoning Nozaki (illustrated by Mitsumasa Anno).
Extensions
process Expectation 1. a) Explore the patterns in the ones digits of the multiples of
Looking for a pattern, i) 2 ii) 8 iii) 3 iv) 7 v) 4 vi) 6
Connecting b) How does the pattern in the multiples of 2 compare to the pattern
in the multiples of 8? Describe any other relationships you notice
between the various patterns.
(Here is one relationship: The pattern for 3 is the pattern for 7 read
backwards.
To get the ones-digit-pattern for 3s, write an endless list:

123456789012345678901234567890123456 789
01234567890…
and continually move right 3 places each time, starting at 3:
3, 6, 9, 2, 5, 8,…
To get the ones-digit-pattern for 7s, write the same endless list, but start
at 7 and move right 7 places each time. Notice that this is the same as
moving left 3 places each time because the pattern repeats every 10
digits and 10 - 7 = 3. Since moving left is the opposite of moving right,
the list for 7 will be the list for 3 backwards.)
2. Are there more prime numbers or more composite numbers less than
100? What strategy could you use to answer the question without
checking every number?
Solution: No even number except 2 is prime. Half the numbers from 3
to 100 are even. If you also consider that all multiples of 5 are composite
(and so on), clearly there are more composite numbers
than primes.
process Expectation 3. A rectangle with side lengths equal to a whole number of centimetres
Connecting has area 17 cm2. What is its perimeter? (The rectangle must be a 17 by 1
rectangle since 17 is prime, so its perimeter is 36.)

process Expectation 4. Show your students a 5 × 5 multiplication table:
Connecting
× 1 2 3 4 5
1 1 2 3 4 5
2 2 4 6 8 10
3 3 6 9 12 15
4 4 8 12 16 20
5 5 10 15 20 25
ASK: Are there any prime numbers in the table? Where are they? (2,
3, and 5 are all in the first row and first column) Why do you think that
happened? (the other numbers in the table are a product of numbers
other than 1 and the numbers themselves, and so are composite)
Number Sense 8-3 13

NS8-4 Prime Factorizations
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m17, 7m12, Students will make factor trees to find the prime factorization of small
8m1, 8m2, 8m6 numbers.
WNCP: 6N3, [V, R, PS]
Can multiply
Can identify prime and composite numbers
Vocabulary
Can find the factors of a number
factors
factor trees
prime Introduce factorizations. Review the words prime and composite. ASK:
composite Is 20 prime or composite? (composite) What is a factor of 20 other than 1
factorization or 20? Write on the board 20 = × . Have a volunteer fill in the
prime factorization blanks. Explain that the student has proven that 20 is composite and has
found a factorization of 20. Ask if anyone can prove that 20 is composite
in a different way. Is there a different factorization of 20? (10 × 2 and
4 × 5 are both factorizations of 20) Challenge students to find factorizations
of 6, 8, 9, and 12 to prove that the numbers are composite. Can students
find two different factorizations of 12? (2 × 6 and 3 × 4) ASK: Does the
factorization 1 × 12 prove that 12 is composite? (no, because any number
can be written as 1 × itself)
Introduce prime factorizations. Write on the board 20 = 10 × 2 and

20 = 4 × 5 and ask if any of the numbers in these factorizations are
composite. Have volunteers prove it. (10 = 2 × 5 and 4 = 2 × 2) Then write
on the board: 20 = 2 × 5 × 2 and 20 = 2 × 2 × 5. ASK: Are any of the
numbers in these factorizations composite? (no, they are all prime) Tell your
students that these are called prime factorizations of 20 because all the
numbers in the factorizations are prime.
Find prime factorizations using factor trees. See Questions 1-3.
process Expectation Extra Practice: Use a factor tree to find a prime factorization.
a) 15 b) 25 c) 32 d) 40 e) 42 f) 100 Bonus 504
Modelling, Organizing data
Branching patterns. Demonstrate what is meant by a branching pattern
for a factor tree (see Question 4), and have students show the branching
pattern for these factor trees:
a) 54 b) 54 c) 54
9 6 2 27 18 3
3 3 2 3 9 3 6 3
3 3 2 3

Then have students draw a factor tree for 54 that has this branching
pattern:
Bonus
process Expectation How many numbers less than 20 have a factorization tree with the
Organizing data following branching patterns?
a) b) c)
ANSWERS:
a) Any number with 2 prime factors (4 = 2 × 2, 6 = 2 × 3, 9,10,14,15)
b) Any number with 3 prime factors (8, 12, 18, 20)
c) Any number with 4 prime factors (16)
ACTIVITY
Students will assemble small rectangles into a single larger rectangle.

Students will be able to solve puzzles with the smallest rectangles
by trial and error, but with larger examples, it will be helpful to
mathematically figure out the size the large rectangle needs to be.
This can be done by adding the total areas of the small rectangles to
find the area of the large rectangle, and then determining the large
rectangle’s possible dimensions by finding pairs of numbers that
multiply to give that area. Use the following progressively more difficult
puzzles to lead students to this discovery.
Students can draw rectangles with the dimensions given on cm grid

paper and cut them out. To make the puzzle pieces firmer, students
can glue the grid paper onto thick paper.
Puzzle A: 1 × 2 1×2 1×3 2×2 3×3
Ask students the dimensions of the large rectangle they made. All
students should say 4 × 5. Show different possible ways to fit the
pieces into the rectangle, and then challenge your students to figure
out why everyone came up with the same size rectangle, even though
they may have come up with different ways of fitting the pieces in.
Making and investigating conjectures (ANSWER: The areas of the
rectangles add to 2 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 9 = 20, so the possible lengths and
process Expectation widths of the large rectangle are 1 × 20, 2 × 10, and 4 × 5. Neither the
Using logical reasoning 1 × 20 nor the 2 × 10 will fit the 3 × 3 rectangle, so the large rectangle
must be 4 × 5.)
Puzzle B: 1 × 1 1 × 2 1 × 3 1×4
1 × 12 2 × 5 3 × 3 3×5
Number Sense 8-4 15

process Expectation Have students calculate the area of the large rectangle that will fit
Problem-Solving, the pieces (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 12 + 10 + 9 + 15 = 56) and find all the
Working backwards possible lengths and widths (1 × 56, 2 × 28, 4 × 14, 7 × 8). Then
explain to students that the 1 × 56 rectangle isn’t possible because
it won’t fit the 2 × 5, 3 × 3, and 3 × 5 pieces. ASK: What other
dimensions are not possible? (The 2 × 28 rectangle isn’t possible
because it can’t fit the 3 × 3 or 3 × 5 pieces; the 7 × 8 rectangle isn’t
possible because it won’t fit the 1 × 12 piece; only the 4 × 14 piece is
possible.)
process Expectation Have your students solve the puzzle knowing that the pieces must
Visualization fit into a 4 × 14 rectangle. ASK: Did organizing your information
save time?
Puzzle C: 4 × 4 1×1 2×3 5×6 1×7
These have a total area of 60, so that the possible large rectangles are
2 × 30, 4 × 15, 6 × 10, 12 × 5, and 20 × 3. The rectangles 2 × 30,
4 × 15, and 20 × 3 can all be eliminated immediately. It is a bit
trickier to eliminate the 12 × 5, but students will see by manipulating
the pieces that it is not possible to fit both the 5 × 6 and the 1 × 7
rectangles into a 12 × 5 rectangle, so the only possibility is 6 × 10.
Once students realize this, it is quite easy to finish the puzzle.
Puzzle D: 1 × 1 1×4 1×6 2×3 2×4 2×5 2×8

process Expectation
3 × 3 3 × 4 3 × 5 6 × 8
Organizing data
The total area of the pieces is 135 = 1 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 8 + 10 + 16 +
9 + 12 + 15 + 48. The pairs of numbers that multiply to give 135 are
1 × 135, 3 × 45, 5 × 27, and 9 × 15. To see this, students can divide
the whole numbers in order and stop when they reach a number
already in a pair; or they can notice that 13 × 13 is already too big
(= 169), so at least one of the numbers must be less than 13 and they
only have to try numbers up to 12. In either case, the only possible
rectangle that will fit the 6 × 8 rectangle is the 9 × 15 rectangle.
Starting with this information makes the problem much easier to solve.
Extensions
process Expectation 1. Find all the factors of 24. Explain the strategy you used.
Communicating 2. Give an example of a composite number and explain why it is

composite.
3. a) Draw factor trees for various prime numbers.

EXAMPLES: 3, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19.
process Expectation b) What does the factor tree for a prime number always look like?
(ANSWER: a single point)
Looking for a pattern

4. Have students find prime factorizations for 360. Invite volunteers to write
or read aloud their answers. Look for different answers. If no one found
a different answer, show a different one on the board.
EXAMPLES: 2 × 2 × 3 × 2 × 5 × 3 and 3 × 3 × 5 × 2 × 2 × 2.
process Expectation ASK: What is the same about these two factorizations and what
Looking for a pattern is different? ANSWER: They have the same numbers (2, 3, and 5)
occurring the same number of times but written in different orders.
Explain that these prime factorizations are so essentially the same—
they contain the same prime numbers, the same number of times—that
mathematicians don’t distinguish between them.
In fact, you might teach your students the reason why 1 was not defined
to be prime. If 1 was defined as prime, then numbers would have many
different prime factorizations. For example, different prime factorizations
of 360 would be
2×2×2×3×3×5
1×2×2×2×3×3×5
1 × 1 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 5
1×1×1×2×2×2×3×3×5
and so on. Because mathematicians wanted to talk about the unique

prime factorization of a number, it was more convenient to say that 1 is
not prime.
5. We can use prime factorization to determine whether two products

are equal without calculating the products. EXAMPLE: 8 × 9 = 6 × 12
since their prime factorizations are
8 × 9 and 6 × 12
2 4 3 3 2 3 4 3
2 2 2 2
so 8 × 9 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 and 6 × 12 = 2 × 3 × 2 × 2 × 3
The products 8 × 9 and 6 × 12 have the same factors, they are just
rearranged.
Use prime factorizations to decide if the two products are the same.
a) 60 × 30 and 24 × 75 b) 10 × 72 and 24 × 45
c) 12 × 45 and 10 × 54 d) 30 × 9 and 6 × 75
Bonus 252 × 525 and 9 × 12 × 25 × 49
Number Sense 8-4 17

NS8-5 Prime Factorizations and GCFs
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m7, 8m15 Students will learn how to find the greatest common factor (GCF) from
the prime factorizations of two or more numbers.

Vocabulary
Can find factors and prime factorizations
factor
prime factorization
greatest common factor How the prime factorizations of a number and its factors are related.
(GCF) Have students find the factors of 24 and the prime factorizations of all the
factors. Challenge students to describe how the prime factorization of each
factor is related to the prime factorization of 24.
process Expectation Bonus Check to see if your conjecture holds for the factors of 30.
Looking for a pattern, ASK: How many 2s are in the prime factorization of 24? (3) How many 3s?
Making and investigating (1) Does any factor of 24 have more than three 2s? (no) Why does this
conjectures, Problem- make sense? (If there were more than three 2s in a factor, then there
Solving, Using logical would be more than three 2s in 24, because 24 = that factor × another
reasoning number. Since there are only three 2s in 24, there cannot be more than that
in the factor.)
To emphasize the point, have students find the prime factorization of two
numbers and their product, for example, 12 and 15.
ANSWER: 12 = 2 × 2 × 3 and 15 = 3 × 5 and
12 × 15 = (2 × 2 × 3) × (3 × 5).
Notice that the number of times each factor occurs in the product is the
sum of the number of times it occurs in each factor. You can’t have fewer 2s
in the product than there are in one of the factors. So if 24 has three 2s in its
prime factorization, no factor of 24 can have more than three 2s—any factor
of 24 has at most as many 2s (and 3s) as 24.
EXTRA PRACTICE:
The prime factorization of 600 is 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5. Without
calculating them, decide which of the following products are factors
of 600:
2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 2×3×5 3 × 3 × 5 3×5×5
2 × 3 × 5 × 5 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 2×2×2×5
2 × 2 × 5 × 5 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 2×3×5×5
Bonus For the products that are factors, find the number it
multiplies with to make 600. EXAMPLE: 2 × 3 × 5 multiplies
with 20 (= 2 × 2 × 5).
Using prime factorizations to find the GCF of two numbers. See

Question 2. Guide students through the same steps to find the GCF of 160
and 180.

EXTRA PRACTICE for Question 3:
a) 315 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 7 b) 1452 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 11 × 11
1050 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 7 440 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 11

a) 82 and 94 b) 110 and 140 c) 68 and 96
d) 44 and 55 e) 63 and 84
SAMPLE ANSWER: e) 63 = 3 × 3 × 7 and 84 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 7,
so GCF = 3 × 7 = 21
Using prime factorizations to find the GCF of three numbers. Revisiting

conjectures that were true in one context. Now that students know how to
find the GCF of two numbers from their prime factorizations, have them
make a conjecture about how to find the GCF of three numbers from their
prime factorizations. (ANSWER: Find all the prime factors that all three
prime factorizations have in common.) Students can test their conjecture on
these numbers:
a) 24, 32, and 40 b) 24, 30, and 32
c) 24, 28, and 32 d) 40, 70, and 90
e) 30, 40, and 63 f) 30, 35, and 38
g 35, 40, and 42 h) 35, 40, and 70
process Expectation Extension

Organizing data Prime factorizations can make it easier to list all the factors of a number.
For example, if 30 = 2 × 3 × 5, then we can list all the factors of 30 by
listing the prime factors separately (one at a time) and then listing all the
possible products of the factors (two at a time, three at a time, etc.), until
we have used them all up. (Don’t forget that 1 is always a factor!) Here is
the list for the factors of 30:
1 is always a factor one at a time two at a time three at a time

1 2, 3, 5 2 × 3, 2 × 5, 3 × 5 2×3×5
So 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, and 30 are all the factors of 30.
List all the factors of

a) 42 b) 105 c) 70 d) 770 Bonus 1430
Sometimes a number has a prime factor occurring more than once, as in

12 = 2 × 2 × 3 or 18 = 2 × 3 × 3. When we list the factors for such
numbers, some will occur twice. Here is the list for the factors of 12:
1 is always a factor one at a time two at a time three at a time

1 2, 2, 3 2 × 2, 2 × 3, 2 × 3 2×2×3
So the factors of 12 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12. (We don’t have to list 2 and 6 twice.)
List all factors by first finding a prime factorization.

a) 18 b) 27 c) 75 d) 28 e) 135 f) 90
Number Sense 8-5 19

NS8-6
Prime Factorizations and LCMs
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m15 Students will learn how to find the lowest common multiple (LCM) from
the prime factorizations of two or more numbers.

Vocabulary
Can find factors and prime factorizations
prime factorization
multiple
lowest common multiple Using prime factorizations to find the LCM of two numbers. See the
(LCM) Investigation and Questions 1-3.

a) 45 = 3 × 3 × 5 and 70 = 2 × 5 × 7
(2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 7 = 630)
b) 35 = 5 × 7 and 56 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 7
(2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 7 = 280)
Bonus 38 = 2 × 19 and 44 = 2 × 2 × 11 (2 × 2 × 11 × 19 = 836)

a) 84 and 108 b) 24 and 36 c) 24 and 60
SAMPLE ANSWER:
a) 84 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 7
108 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3
So LCM = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 = 756
Bonus Use prime factorizations to find the LCM of three numbers.
a) 24, 30 and 32 b 40, 56, and 140 c) 20, 35, and 36
d) 35, 36, and 42 e) 24, 25, and 55
SAMPLE ANSWER:
a) 24 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3
30 = 2 × 3 × 5
32 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2
So LCM = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 = 480
ACTIVITY
The Pool Factor (This activity adapted from work originally by Rich
Cornwall.) Look at a rectangular grid as a pool table with 4 corner
pockets, but no side pockets.

If you hit a pool ball at a 45° angle from the bottom left corner, the ball
will travel around the grid, always bouncing off walls at a 45° angle,
until it falls into a pocket.
a) Count the number of times the ball hits a side wall on its trip.
Count both the starting and ending points as “hits.”
b) Count the number of squares the ball passes through
on its trip.
For the 6 × 4 grid, there are 5 hits and the ball passes through
12 squares.
FINISH
START
Complete the following chart by drawing pool tables of different

dimensions (base × height) on grid paper and drawing the path of a
pool ball hit at a 45° angle from the bottom left corner.
Base Height GCF LCM Number of # of Squares

Hits Passed Through
6 4
3 2
5 4
4 5
8 10
12 15
3 5
6 10
4 1
8 2
8 4
2 1
1 2
7 4
7 3
7 2
10 5
9 5
5 9
8 5
Number Sense 8-6 21

Predict a rule for determining
a) the number of hits

b) the number of squares passed through
from the base and the height. Using b for base and h for height,
express your answers in terms of variables. Check your predictions
with 5 other examples of base and height.
ANSWERS: a) (b + )/GCF b) LCM
Extensions
1. Multiply two even numbers. How do you know that 4 is always a factor
of the product?
2. What is the least number with factors 14, 30, and 28?
3. Ask students to look back at their work in the Activity above. Have them
look at all the grids with base 7. ASK: In which corner does the ball
land when the height is an odd number: top left, top right, bottom left,
or bottom right? Where does the ball land when the height is even?
Have students draw more grids with base 7 and GCF 1, and look for
a pattern. Then ASK: What kind of number is 7, odd or even? Have
students look at all the grids with odd bases and GCF 1. (They can
draw more such grids too.) Does the pattern hold?
Now have students look for patterns when the base is even. In general:
b odd b odd
h even h odd
b even b even
h even h odd
Note that the base and height cannot both be even if their GCF if 1, so
the ball never lands in the bottom left corner, where it started.

NS8-7 Order of Operations
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m25, 7m1 Students will understand the need for brackets in expressions and for
WNCP: 6N9, [PS] assigning an order to the operations.
Can add, subtract, multiply, and divide 1-digit and small 2-digit numbers
Vocabulary
order of operations
brackets The need for an order of operations. Have students solve the following
problem: 8 – 5 + 2. Discuss how to get the answer 5 (subtract 5 from 8 then
NOTE: This lesson will add 2) and how to get the answer 1 (add 5 and 2 first, then subtract from
probably take two days to do. 8). ASK: What could we do to make it clear which operation to do first?
(Students may suggest ideas other than inserting brackets if they are not
familiar with brackets yet; accept all answers.)
Introduce brackets. The brackets tell you to do the operations in brackets

first. Writing (8 – 5) + 2 means 3 + 2 = 5; writing 8 – (5 + 2) means
8 – 7 = 1. If there are no brackets, we do the addition and subtraction from
left to right, so 8 - 5 + 2 means the same thing as (8 - 5) + 2.
Have students evaluate:

a) (8 – 3) + 3 and 8 – (3 + 3) b) (10 – 4) + 2 and 10 – (4 + 2)
c) (3 + 7) – 4 and 3 + (7 – 4) d) (6 + 3) – 2 and 6 + (3 – 2)
Predict and then check whether these expressions have the same answer:
process Expectation a) (7 + 5) – 2 and 7 + (5 – 2) b) (7 – 4) + 2 and 7 – (4 + 2)
Making and investigating The order of operations for expressions involving only addition, subtraction,
conjectures and brackets. Explain that when there are brackets, we evaluate the
expressions in brackets first, then write the expression without brackets,
and then solve from left to right.
EXTRA PRACTICE:
a) 13 – (4 + 5) + 3 b) 13 – (4 + 5) – 3
c) 13 – (4 + 5 – 3) d) 13 – (4 + 5 + 3)
SAMPLE ANSWER: a) 13 – 9 + 3 = 4 + 3 = 7
Which pairs of expressions above have the same answer?
(ANSWERS: a and c; b and d)
Bonus a) 15 – (4 + 2 + 3) + 6
Students can use Question 1 as a model for placing the brackets in

Question 2. Some students may think of using nested brackets, such as
12 – (9 – (2 – 1)). Allow them to investigate this case. Note, however, that
there will be no new answer, since, for example:
12 – (9 – (2 – 1)) = 12 – 9 + 2 – 1 = 12 – (9 – 2) – 1.
Bonus
Question 2: Add brackets to 12 + 9 + 2 – 1 in different ways to get as
many different answers as you can. Note that this will result in only one
Number Sense 8-7 23

answer, as in part i), even though both addition and subtraction are
involved. The reason is that the subtraction is at the end.
Expressions involving only multiplication, division, and brackets. Have

students solve 15 ÷ 5 × 3. Discuss how to get the answer 9 and how to
get the answer 1. Using the same rule as for addition and subtraction (i.e.,
moving from left to right) what’s the right answer—9 or 1? (15 ÷ 5 × 3 =
3 × 3 = 9) How would students add brackets if they want to ensure
someone will get the answer 1? (15 ÷ (5 × 3))
Question 4: Add brackets to 3 × 5 × 40 ÷ 10 in different ways to get as

many different answers as you can. (There will be only one answer.)
Discuss when changing the order the operations are done in affects the
answer. (Problems with only multiplication have only one answer, no matter
where you add brackets, and problems where the only division is at the
end have only one answer. Changing the order for all other combinations of
multiplication and division changes the answer.)
Students can now complete Questions 5 and 6. (Notice that they do not
need to know that multiplication and division are done before addition and
subtraction to complete the questions; they only need to know to do what’s
in brackets first.)
Why multiplication is done before addition. Write 3 + 4 × 5. Explain that

since 4 × 5 is really a short form for adding four 5s, this expression can be
written as 3 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5. Look back at the original expression. ASK: To
get the same answer as the new expression, would you do 3 + 4 first and
then multiply by 5, or 4 × 5 first, and then add 3? (4 × 5 first)
Have students write these expressions out using only addition:

ANSWERS:
a) 4 × 3 + 5 × 5 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5
b) 2 × 7 + 3 × 7 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7
c) 3 + 4 × 2 + 5 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 5
d) 5 + 2 × 3 + 4 × 4 5+3+3+4+4+4+4
Notice that 4 × 3 + 5 × 5 = 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5
= 12 + 25
= 37
This is the same as doing the multiplication first:

(4 × 3) + (5 × 5) = 12 + 25 = 37.
Explain that when we see multiplication in an expression with addition, we

always calculate the multiplication first because multiplication is just a short
form for repeated addition. Explain to students that they assume this order
of operations—that multiplication is done before addition—when they write
numbers in expanded form. EXAMPLE: 345 = 3 × 100 + 4 × 10 + 5
For the example above, ASK: What answer would you get if you did all
the operations from left to right? (ANSWER: 300 + 4 × 10 + 5 =

304 × 10 + 5 = 3040 + 5 = 3045) What answer would you get if you did all
the addition first, and then the multiplication? (ANSWER: 3 × 104 × 15 =
312 × 15 = 4680) These answers are both wrong! The only correct way to
evaluate the expression is to do all the multiplication first: 300 + 40 + 5 =
345. That’s what we mean when we write numbers in expanded form. So in
a way, this order of operations is nothing new.
The order of operations for all operations and brackets. Now tell
students the order hierarchy:
1. Evaluate all expressions in brackets.
2. Do multiplication and division from left to right.
3. Do addition and subtraction from left to right.
Explain why multiplication and division are treated as a group, while

addition and subtraction are treated as a separate group, as follows:
Addition and subtraction are naturally grouped together because they

undo each other; multiplication and division are grouped together for the
same reason.
We already said that multiplication is done before addition. Since

multiplication is grouped with division and addition is grouped with
subtraction, we do all instances of multiplication and division before all
instances of addition and subtraction, unless there are brackets (in which
case we do whatever is in the brackets first).
Bonus
Question 7: Evaluate each expression using the correct order of
operations.
a) (3 × 5 – 7) × 5 ÷ (16 – 6)
ANSWER: (15 – 7) × 5 ÷ 10 = 8 × 5 ÷ 10
= 40 ÷ 10
=4
b) 90 ÷ (13 – 2 × 5) – (4 + 3 × 2) × 2 + 5
ANSWER: 90 ÷ (13 – 10) – (4 + 6) × 2 + 5 = 90 ÷ 3 – 10 × 2 + 5
= 30 – 20 + 5
= 10 + 5
= 15
c) (80 ÷ (1 + 2 + 3 + 4) × 5 – (1 + 2 + 3 + 4)) ÷ 6
ANSWER: (80 ÷ 10 × 5 – 10) ÷ 6 = (8 × 5 – 10) ÷ 6
= (40 – 10) ÷ 6
= 30 ÷ 6
=5
Finding expressions without brackets that mean the same as given

process Expectation expressions with brackets. Explain that sometimes, we don’t need to write
Looking for a pattern any brackets if we change some of the operation symbols. Have students
calculate these three expressions:
10 – (3 + 2) 10 – 3 + 2 10 – 3 – 2
Number Sense 8-7 25

ASK: Which expression without brackets has the same answer as the
process Expectation expression with brackets?
Justifying the solution EXTRA PRACTICE for Question 12: Create new expressions with the same
answer only by removing brackets and, where necessary, changing
operation signs. Verify your answer by calculating both expressions.
a) 12 × 20 ÷ (8 ÷ 2) b) 12 × 20 ÷ (8 × 2) c) 12 × 20 × (8 ÷ 2)
d) 12 × 20 × (8 × 2) e) 20 ÷ 4 × (10 ÷ 2) f) 20 ÷ 4 ÷ (10 ÷ 2)
Using the distributive property to write expressions without brackets.

See Investigation, parts A-E.
Bonus
A: 1 3 6
5 = + +
So ×( + + )=( × )+( × )+ ( × )
process Expectation Questions for B. and C.: Discuss what made it easy to calculate 7 × 12
Reflecting on what made the and 4 × 23. ASK: What kinds of numbers are easiest to multiply by? Write a
problem easy or hard large number on the board, such as: 2 345 711 256 × . ASK: What can
you put in the blank so that you will know the answer easily? (0, 1, 10, 100,
1000, and so on) Challenge students to prove their assertions—can they in
fact write the answer easily?
Review multiplying by multiples of 10, 100, 1000, and so on. Solve:

a) 3 × 500 b) 4 × 9000 c) 7 × 80
d) 9 × 600 e) 8 × 8000 f) 7 × 400
process Expectation Challenge students to break the following products into simpler products
Splitting into simpler using multiples of 10, and then solve.
problems ANSWERS:
a) 5 × 13 5 × (10 + 3) = 5 × 10 + 5 × 3 = 50 + 15 = 65
b) 7 × 24 7 × (20 + 4) = 7 × 20 + 7 × 4 = 140 + 28 = 168
c) 6 × 22 6 × 22 = 6 × (20 + 2) = 6 × 20 + 6 × 2 = 120 + 12 = 132
d) 4 × 53 4 × 53 = 4 × (50 + 3) = 4 × 50 + 4 × 3 = 200 + 12 = 212
e) 6 × 38 6 × 38 = 6 × (30 + 8) = 6 × 30 + 6 × 8 = 180 + 48 = 228
Bonus
C: a) 7 × 312
b) 3 × 4321
c) 2 × 47318
d) 9 × 21637
SAMPLE ANSWER:
d) 9 × 21637 = 9 × (20 000 + 1000 + 600 + 30 + 7)
= 180 000 + 9000 + 5400 + 270 + 63
= 180 000 + 14 400 + 333
= 194 733

Bonus
3 5 7
D:
Bonus
E: Have students write this expression without brackets:
(3 + 4 × 5 + 6) × (2 + 7)
ANSWER:
3 × 2 + 3 × 7 + 4 × 5 × 2 + 4 × 5 × 7 + 6 × 2 + 6 × 7)
EXTRA PRACTICE for F: Have students break these problems into

simpler problems:
a) 21 × 31 b) 42 × 15 c) 37 × 54
SAMPLE ANSWER:
c) (30 + 7) × (50 + 4) = 30 × 50 + 30 × 4 + 7 × 50 + 7 × 4
= 1500 + 120 + 350 + 28
= 1998
Bonus 321 × 452

ANSWER:
321 × 452 = (300 + 20 + 1) × (400 + 50 + 2)
= 300 × 400 + 300 × 50 + 300 × 2 + 20 × 400 + 20 × 50
+ 20 × 2 + 400 + 50 + 2
= 120 000 + 15 000 + 600 + 80 000 + 1000 + 40 + 400
+ 50 + 2
= 217 092
Investigate types of expressions that cannot be written without

brackets. See parts G and H in the Investigation. Notice that, while
multiplication distributes over addition and subtraction, addition and
subtraction do not distribute over multiplication. Also, in division, the
dividend can be split into a sum or difference, but the divisor cannot.
Extensions
1. Use a cube model to write (4 + 5) × (3 + 6) × (2 + 7) without brackets:
4×3×2+4×3×7+4×6×2+4×6×7+5×3×2+5×3
×7+5×6×2+5×6×7
4 This expression represents the volume of the whole cube. Using the
diagram at right, challenge students to find the volume of each of the
5 8 pieces separately, and then the volume of the whole cube. To find the
volume of the 8 pieces separately, students will need to write the
7 side lengths not shown. For example, the edge at the top right of the
6
diagram is divided into parts of length 6 and 3. To find the volume of the
3 2 entire cube, students add the volumes of the 8 pieces.
Number Sense 8-7 27

process Expectation 2. Using four 4s each time, make expressions for each value from 0
through 10. You may use brackets and any of the four operations.
Problem-Solving
EXAMPLE: (4 × 4) ÷ (4 + 4) = 16 ÷ 8 = 2
Hint: You many need to use POSSIBLE ANSWERS: 0 = (4 - 4) × (4 + 4) 6 = (4 + 4) ÷ 4 + 4

a number consisting of 4s, 1 = 4 ÷ 4 × 4 ÷ 4 7 = 44 ÷ 4 - 4
such as 44. 2 = 4 × 4 ÷ (4 + 4) 8 = 4 × 4 - (4 + 4)
3 = (4 + 4 + 4) ÷ 4 9=4÷4+4+4
4 = (4 - 4) × 4 + 4 10 = (44 - 4) ÷ 4
5 = (4 × 4 + 4) ÷ 4
How many different expressions can your students come up with?
3. Sometimes, we can reverse the digits of both factors and get the
same product!
a) The digits in these factors have been reversed. Use factor trees to
check which equations work (i.e., are correct). Cross out the ones
that don’t work.
32 × 69 = 23 × 96 23 × 64 = 32 × 46 24 × 84 = 42 × 48
16 × 34 = 61 × 43 36 × 42 = 63 × 24 39 × 31 = 93 × 13
82 × 14 = 28 × 41 94 × 25 = 49 × 52 15 × 72 = 51 × 27
58 × 32 = 85 × 23 39 × 62 = 93 × 26 14 × 92 = 41 × 29
b) Pick one equation from part a) that works and one that doesn’t work.
Use the area model or the distributive law to find all 4 products from
both equations as sums of smaller products. What is special about
the one that works that makes it work? Make a conjecture about
what makes it work in special cases and check your conjecture on all
examples above. Then find another example where it works.
SAMPLE ANSWER: It works for 32 × 69 = 32 × 23 × 3 = 23 × 96, but

not for 94 × 25 and 49 × 52.
Using the distributive law

32 × 69 = (30 + 2) × (60 + 9) = 30 × 60 + 30 × 9 + 2 × 60 + 2 × 9
23 × 96 = (20 + 3) × (90 + 6) = 20 × 90 + 20 × 6 + 3 × 90 + 3 × 6
Since 2 × 9 = 3 × 6, it is also true that 30 × 60 = 20 × 90
The following equations are also true: 30 × 9 = 3 × 90 and 20 × 6

= 2 × 60.
So what makes this work is that the product of the ones digits in the
original numbers equals the product of the tens digits: 2 × 9 = 3 × 6.
This isn’t true in the other example:

94 × 25 = (90 + 4) × (20 + 5)
= 90 × 20 + 90 × 5 + 4 × 20 + 4 × 5
and 49 × 52 = (40 + 9) × (50 + 2)

= 40 × 50 + 40 × 2 + 9 × 50 + 9 × 2

It’s still true that 90 × 5 = 9 × 50 and 4 × 20 = 40 × 2, but the two
“outside” products don’t match: 90 × 20 doesn’t equal 40 × 50 and
4 × 5 doesn’t equal 9 × 2.
Another example where it works is 12 × 63 = 21 × 36 (because 1 × 6 =

2 × 3).
Number Sense 8-7 29

NS8-8 Fractions
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m14, review, Students will understand fractions as equal parts of a whole or of a set.
8m2, 8m5, 8m6
WNCP: review, [ME, PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED
CN, R]
Understands the concept of area
Recognizes contexts that fractions can be used in
Understands logical statements using and, or, and not
Vocabulary
fraction MATERIALS
numerator
modelling clay, resealable bags, straws, paper (see Activity)
denominator
Review fractions. Ask students what they already know about fractions.
SAMPLE ANSWERS: they have a top number and a bottom number; the
bottom number tells how many parts are in a whole; the top number tells
how many parts are being considered (e.g., a team that has played 5
games and won 3 of them has won 3/5 of their games). Some students may
know that greater denominators decrease the size of the fraction.
Ask students in what situations they have seen or used fractions.

EXAMPLES: recipes (fraction of a cup), time (fraction of an hour),
converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius, measurements in inches as
opposed to cm, shoe sizes (half).
Ask students what they can take a fraction of. EXAMPLES: fraction of an
hour, fraction of a cup or teaspoon, fraction of an inch, fraction of an area,
fraction of a distance, fraction of a group of people, fraction of an angle,
fraction of a line, fraction of number of votes.
Naming fractions of an area. Emphasize the importance of each part

being the same size and start with examples where this is the case (see
Question 1); if this is not the case, students should further subdivide the
area until all parts are the same size (see Question 2).
Review the terms numerator and denominator, and explain what they refer
to (top and bottom numbers in a fraction) and what they represent (number
of parts considered and number of parts in a whole).

What fraction of each figure is shaded?
a) b) c) d) e)

ANSWERS:
a) 2/16 b) 5/16 c) 1/4 d) 1/16 e) 1/64

What fraction of this shape made from pattern blocks is each colour?
ANSWERS: Black: 6/20 White: 4/20 Light grey: 6/20 Dark grey: 4/20
Dividing lines into given fractions. See Question 3.

Bonus Draw a line segment 6 cm long. This is 2/3 of a whole.
Draw the whole.
ANSWER: Divide the line into two equal parts, so that the
original line is two parts, then create a third part equal to the
first two.
Taking the fraction of a set. See Questions 4 and 5.

1.
What fraction of the shapes are

ANSWERS: ANSWERS:
a) shaded? 5/9 h) not white triangles? 8/9
b) circles? 2/9 i) big squares or big circles? 4/9
c) not circles? 7/9 j) squares or triangles? 7/9
d) not squares? 5/9 k) triangles or circles? 5/9
e) shaded squares? 2/9 l) not small triangles? 7/9
f) big squares? 3/9 m) neither small nor a triangle? 4/9
g) white triangles? 1/9
PROCESS ASSESSMENT Have students find parts that have the same answer and decide if it
8m2, [R] is just a coincidence or if there is a reason why the two parts have the
same answer. For example, a) and k) have the same answer, but this
is just a coincidence. On the other hand, that d) and k) have the same
answer can be deduced logically.
2. What word do you get when you combine

a) the first 2/3 of sun and the first 1/2 of person? (ANSWER: super)
b) the first 1/2 of grease and the first 1/2 of ends?
c) the first 1/3 of trance and the last 3/4 of luck?
d) the first 1/2 of wood and the last 2/3 of arm?
Try making up your own questions like these.
3. Draw the set:

There are 7 triangles and squares; 2/7 of the figures are triangles,
3/7 are shaded, and 2 triangles are shaded.
4. There are 9 circles and triangles. Can you draw a set so that
a) 7/9 are circles and 4/9 are striped? (Have volunteers show different
possibilities and ask how many are striped circles.)
b) 7/9 are circles and 4/9 are triangles?
Discuss what is the same and what is different in both questions.

ANSWER: The numbers are the same, but one set is possible and
the other is not. In the impossible case, the same attribute (shape)
was used twice; in the other case, two different attributes (shape and
Number Sense 8-8 31

pattern) were used. Note that if the fractions used had added to 1, then
it would be possible to use the same attribute twice, e.g., 7/9 are circles
and 2/9 are triangles.
5. What fraction of the multiples of 2, up to 3000, are also multiples of 5?

ANSWER: 1/5
process Expectation ACTIVITY
Mental math and estimation,
Prepare many small, equal-sized balls of modelling clay in different
Modelling
colours (white, red, blue, and yellow). You could use a teaspoon
to measure out the modelling clay, to ensure that all balls are the
same size. Prepare resealable bags, each with 6 balls of the same
colour; make enough so that each student can choose two bags of
different colours.
1 red, 2 blue
3 3 Students work in pairs. Each student secretly chooses three balls
and thoroughly mixes the balls together to create a new ball. Students
show their partners the new balls. Knowing that three balls were
used in total, can the partner guess how many of each colour were
used? What fraction of the new ball is each colour? (EXAMPLE: 1/3
red and 2/3 blue) Students should write the correct “recipe” for each
ball of modelling clay on a triangular flag (see below), tape it to a
straw, and insert the straw into the ball. (You can make 4 flags from a
regular sheet of paper.) One possible recipe is shown on the flag in the
margin. Repeat, but this time have students choose 4 balls from their
remaining 9 balls.
process assessment Finally, have students make a ball with the remaining 5 balls but this
8m5, [CN] time have partners predict the fraction of each colour used before they
Workbook Question 5 see the ball. Students should be able to logically deduce the correct
fraction at this point.
Students should make recipe flags for all the balls they create. Keep
them for use in NS8-16.

NS8-9 Mixed Numbers
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m6, Students will recognize and name mixed numbers.
review
WNCP: review, [V] PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
REQUIRED
Understands that fractions can name an area

Can use pies as models for fractions
Vocabulary Can name fractions
mixed number Can double numbers
Naming mixed numbers. Introduce mixed fractions by drawing the

following picture on the board:
process assessment Tell students that some friends ordered 3 pizzas with 4 pieces each.
8m1, 8m6, [V] The shaded pieces show how much they have eaten. They ate two
Workbook Question 5 whole pizzas plus a quarter of another one. Draw the following pictures
on the board.
a) b)
c)
Ask: How many whole pizzas are shaded? What fraction of the last pizza
is shaded? Write the mixed number for the first picture and have volunteers
write the mixed numbers for the second and third pictures.
Draw models of several mixed numbers, asking students to name them

in their notebooks. Use a variety of shapes for the whole piece, such as
rectangles and triangles.
Representing mixed numbers. Write a fraction such as 3 1/4 on the board.

Draw a series of circles divided into the same number of parts, as given
by the denominator of the fraction (since the denominator of the fraction in
this example is 4, each pie has 4 pieces). Ask your students to shade the
correct number of pieces in the pies to represent the fraction.
EXAMPLE: 3 1
4
Students should shade the first 3 circles and 1 part of the fourth circle.
Number Sense 8-9 33

Tell your students that you have drawn more circles than they need so they
have to know when to stop shading.
Have students sketch the pies for given mixed numbers in their notebooks.
1 5 3 2 4
EXAMPLES: 2 , 3 , 1 , 2 , 3 .
4 8 8 3 5
If students have trouble, let them first practise drawing whole pies divided
into halves, thirds, quarters, and so on.
process Expectation Have students use their sketches to order the fractions from least to
Modelling, Representing greatest.
Extensions
1. Teach students how to count forwards by halves, thirds, quarters, and
tenths beyond 1.
Ask students to complete the patterns:
a) 1 , 2 , 3 , ____, ____, ____, ____, ____
4 4 4
b) 1 , 2 , ____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____
3 3
c) 2 2 , 2 3 , ____, ____, ____, ____, ____
4 4
d) 7 , 8 , ____, ____, ____, ____, ____
10 10
e) 7 , 8 , ____, ____, ____, ____, ____
9 9
SAMPLE ANSWER: b) 1 , 2 , 1, 1 1 , 1 2 , 2, 2 1
3 3 3 3 3
2. Which model (A or B) represents 2 3/4 ? How do you know?

ANSWER: B, because all the wholes are the same size
A B
3. Ask students to order these mixed numbers from least to greatest:

31 15 7 7 ANSWER: 1 5 , 3 1 , 7 7
5 7 11 7 5 11
Ask: Did you need to look at the fractional parts at all or just the
whole numbers? Why? (Just the whole numbers - for example, 1 5/7 is
between 1 and 2, so it is less than 3 1/5, which is between 3 and 4)

Bonus Order these numbers: 3 1 5 2 2 1 61 85 4 3
8 7 11 5 7 10
ANSWER: Just put the whole number parts in order:
1 1 3 2 1 5
2 3 4 5 6 8
11 8 10 7 5 7

NS8-10 Improper Fractions
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m6, Students will name improper fractions and fractions representing
review exactly one whole.
WNCP: review, [V]
Can identify and represent mixed numbers
Vocabulary
mixed number Fractions equivalent to 1. Draw these shapes on the board:
Have students name the fractions shaded. Ask: How many parts are
shaded? How many parts are in one whole? Tell students that they are all
one whole and write 1 = 4/4 and 1 = 6/6. Then have student volunteers
fill in the blanks:
7
process assessment 1= 1=
9
8m1, 8m6, [V]
Workbook Question 4 Fractions equivalent to 2. Tell students that sometimes they might have
more than one whole—they might have two whole pizzas, for example:
and
Ask: Which number goes on top—the number of parts that are shaded
or the number of parts in one whole? Tell students to look at the pictures
and say how many parts are in one whole circle and how many parts are
shaded. Then write:

2= and 2=
2 3
Ask a volunteer to come and write the number of shaded pieces. Ask: How
are the numerator and denominator in these fractions related? (you double
the denominator to get the numerator). Have students fill in the missing
numbers:
10 62
2= 2= 2= 2= 2=
4 28 76
Introduce Improper Fractions. Ask: How are the fractions above different
from the fractions we’ve seen so far? Tell them these fractions are called
improper fractions because the numerator is larger than the denominator.
Challenge students to guess what a fraction is called if its numerator is
smaller than its denominator. (A proper fraction)
Number Sense 8-10 35

Draw on the board:
Ask: How many pieces are shaded? (9) Say: I want to write a fraction for
this picture. Should 9 be the numerator or the denominator? (numerator)
How many equal parts are in one whole? (4) Should this be the numerator
or the denominator? (denominator) Tell your students that the fraction is
written 9/4.
Have volunteers write improper fractions for these pictures.
a) b)
c)
Ask: How many parts are shaded? How many parts are in one whole?
Draw models of several improper fractions, asking students to name

them in their notebooks. Use a variety of shapes, such as rectangles and
triangles, for the whole.
Modelling improper fractions. Write a fraction such as 15/4 on the board.

Draw a series of circles divided into the same number of parts, as given
by the denominator of the fraction (since the denominator of the fraction in
this example is 4, each pie has 4 pieces). Ask your students to shade the
correct number of pieces in the pies to represent the fraction.
EXAMPLE:
15
4
Students should shade the first 3 circles and 3 parts of the fourth circle.
Tell your students that you have drawn more circles than they need so they
have to know when to stop shading.
Have students sketch the pies for given improper fractions in their
notebooks.
EXAMPLES: 11 , 15 , 19 , 10 , 12 .
4 8 8 3 5
process Expectation Have students use their sketches to order the fractions from least to
Modelling, Representing greatest.
Ask: Which fractions show more than a whole? How do you know?
13 , 2 , 14 , 8 , 12
5 9 15 3 7

NS8-11 Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m14; 8m1, Students will relate mixed numbers and improper fractions.
8m6, 8m7, review
WNCP: 6N4, review, PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED
[V,C]
Can identify and represent mixed numbers and improper fractions
Review. Ask: What is a mixed number? What is an improper fraction?

Vocabulary Have a volunteer write a mixed number for the picture in the margin and
mixed number explain their answer.
improper fraction
Have another volunteer write an improper fraction for the same picture and
explain their answer.
Draw several models of fractions larger than 1 on the board and have
students write both the mixed number and the improper fraction. Use
several different shapes other than circles.
Draw several more such models on the board and ask students to write
an improper fraction if the model contains more than 2 whole shapes, and
a mixed number otherwise. This will allow you to see if students know the
difference between mixed numbers and improper fractions.
Converting mixed numbers to improper fractions. Tell students to draw

models for the following mixed numbers and to write the corresponding
improper fraction that is equal to it.
a) 2 3
4 b) 3 1
3 c) 2 1
6 d) 1 5
6 e) 3 2
5 f) 2 7
8
Converting improper fractions to mixed numbers. Tell students to draw
models for the following improper fractions and then to write the mixed
number that is equal to each one.
a) 13 b) 7 c) 11 d) 19 e) 27
process assessment 4 3 6 5 8
8m7, [C] Relating improper fractions to mixed numbers. Say: You have written
Workbook Question 5 many numbers as both a mixed number and an improper fraction. What
is the same in both? What is different? (The denominators are the same
because they tell you how many parts are in a whole, but the numerators
are different because a mixed number counts the pieces that make up
the wholes separately from the pieces that make up only part of a whole;
improper fractions count them all together.)
process Expectation
Modelling sk students to solve these problems by sketching their answers on
A
triangular grid paper:
a) Which two whole numbers is 23/6 between?
b) What fraction of a pie would you have if you took away 1/6 of a pie
from 3 pies? Write your answer as both a mixed number and an
improper fraction.

Bonus Write the following fractions in order:
31 27 11 71 36 43
4 4 4 4 4 4
NS8-12 More Mixed Numbers
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m14, 8m5, Students will use multiplication to find the improper fraction equivalent
8m7, review to a given mixed number.
WNCP: 6N4, review, [C]
Can identify and represent mixed numbers and improper fractions

Understands that mixed numbers and improper fractions can represent
Vocabulary
the same amount
mixed number
Can multiply up to 9 × 9
improper fraction
process assessment Converting fourths to improper fractions using multiplication. Draw on

the board:
8m5, [CN]
Workbook Question 5
Say: How many parts are in the pie? There are 4 quarters in one pie. How
many quarters are in 2 pies? (8)
What operation can we use to tell us the answer? (multiplication) How many
quarters are there in 3 pies? (4 × 3 = 12)
Ask: How many quarters are in 3 3/4 pies?
3–

12 pieces 3 3 extra pieces

(3 × 4) 4
So there are 15 pieces (quarters) altogether.
Converting halves to improper fractions. ASK: How many halves are in 1

pie? (2) In 2 pies? (4) In 3 pies (6) In 17 pies? (34) How do you know? What
operation did you use to find that? (17 × 2)
Ask: How many halves are in 1 1/2 pies? Have a volunteer draw the picture
on the board.
Ask: How many halves are in 2 1/2 pies? In 3 1/2 pies? In 4 1/2 pies? In
20 1/2 pies? What operations do you use to find the answer? Multiplication
and addition:
20 × 2 + 1= 41
40 halves in 20 whole pies 1 extra half

Draw 8 1/2 pies on the board and Ask: How many halves are in 8 1/2 ?
Emphasize that the extra half is just one more piece, so once students
know how many halves are in 8 pies, they just add one to find how many
are in 8 1/2 .
Have students write in their notebooks how many halves are in…
a) 2 1 b) 5 1 c) 11 d) 11 1
Bonus 49 1 84 1
2 2 2 2 2
Converting thirds to improper fractions. Ask: How many thirds are in 1
pie? (3) Have a volunteer come to the board and divide a circle into thirds.
Ask: How many thirds are in 2 pies? In 3 pies? In 10 pies? In 100 pies? In
1000 pies? How many thirds are in 1013 pies? In 1023 pies? In 523 pies?
Have students write in their notebooks how many thirds are in…
a) 2 1 b) 5 1 c) 11 d) 11 1
Bonus 49 2 84 2
3 3 3 3 3
Solving problems in a context. Say: I have boxes that will hold 4 cans
each. What fraction of a box is each can? (one fourth) How many fourths
are in 2 wholes? How many cans will 2 boxes hold? How are these
questions the same? How are they different?
A box holds 4 cans. How many cans will the following hold?
a) 1 1 boxes b) 2 3 boxes c) 1 1 boxes d) 1 3 boxes

4 4 4 4
To help your students, encourage them to rephrase the question in terms
of fourths and wholes. For example, since a can is one fourth of a whole, a)
becomes “How many fourths are in 1 1/4 ?”
Next, students will have to rephrase the question in terms of fractions other
than fourths, depending on the number of items in each package.
a) A box holds 6 cans. How many cans will 1 5/6 boxes hold?
b) A box holds 8 cans. How many cans will 2 3/8 boxes hold?

Bonus
c) A box holds 326 cans. How many cans will 1 5/326 boxes hold?
d) Tennis balls come in cans of 3. How many balls will 7 1/3 cans hold?
e) A bottle holds 100 mL of water. How many mL of water will 7 53/100
bottles hold?
Converting mixed numbers to improper fractions. To change 2 3/8

to an improper fraction, start by calculating how many pieces are in the
wholes (2 × 8 = 16) and add on the remaining pieces (16 + 3 = 19),
so 2 3/8 = 19/8.
Have students write the following mixed numbers as improper fractions
and explain how they found the answers.
a) 3 17 b) 5 16 c) 4 39 d) 7 58 e) 6 56

NS8-13 Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m14; 8m1, Students will use division with remainders to find the mixed number
8m6, review equivalent to a given improper fraction.
WNCP: 6N4, review, [V]
Can read mixed numbers and improper fractions from a picture

Can find the improper fraction given the mixed number by using
Vocabulary
multiplication
mixed number
Can divide with remainders
improper fraction
Understands the relationship between multiplication and division
remainder
Writing Improper fractions and mixed numbers from models. Have

students write in their notebooks the mixed numbers and improper fractions
process assessment for several pictures displaying area:
[V], 8m6
Workbook Question 5
Then provide examples involving length and capacity as well, as shown

in Questions 4 and 5 on the worksheet. EXAMPLES:
How long is the line? How many litres are shown?
1 litre
1m
Converting whole numbers to improper fractions: Have students write

each whole number below as an improper fraction with denominator 2 and
show their answer with a picture and a multiplication statement:
a) 3 = 6 b) 4 c) 2 d) 7 e) 10
2
3×2=6
Converting improper fractions to whole numbers: Ask: If I have the

improper fraction 10/2, how could I find the number of whole pies it
represents? Draw on the board:
whole pies = 10 pies

2
Ask students how many whole pies 10 half-sized pieces would make? Show
students that they simply divide 10 by 2 to find the answer: 10 ÷ 2 = 5
whole pies.

Review converting mixed numbers to improper fractions. Have students
write the mixed numbers below as improper fractions and show their
answer with a picture. Students should also write a statement involving
multiplication and addition for the number of half-sized pieces in the pies.
a) 3 1 = 7 b) 4 1 c) 2 1
2 2 2 2

There is one extra d) 5 1 e) 8 1
2 2
3 × 2 + 1 = 7 halves half-sized piece.
There are 3 pies with 2 halves each.
Converting improper fractions to mixed numbers. Say: If I have the

improper fraction 15/2, how can I know how many whole pies there are and
how many pieces are left over? I want to divide 15 into sets of size 2 and I
want to know how many full sets there are and how many extra pieces, if
any. What operation should I use? (division) What is the leftover part called?
(the remainder)
Write on the board: 15 ÷ 2 = 7 Remainder 1, 15 = 7 1 .

2 2
15 ÷ 2 = 7 R1
Draw the following picture and number sentences on the board.
15 = 3 3
4 4
4 × 3 + 3 = 15
15 ÷ 4 = 3 Remainder 3
Have students relate the number sentences to the picture: When we divide
15 into sets of size 4, we get 3 sets and then 3 extra pieces left over. This
is the same as dividing pies into fourths and seeing that 15 fourths is the
same as 3 whole pies (with 4 pieces each) and then 3 extra pieces.
Repeat for several pictures, having volunteers write the mixed numbers and
improper fractions as well as the multiplication and division statements.
Then have students do similar problems individually in their notebooks.
Now give students improper fractions and have them draw the picture, write
the mixed fraction, and the multiplication and division statements.
Then show students how to change an improper fraction into a mixed fraction:
Recall that 2 1 = 2 × 4 + 1 quarters = 9 quarters = 9 .

4 4
9
Starting with , we can find 9 ÷ 4 = 2 Remainder 1
4
so = 2 wholes and 1 more quarter = 2 1 .
9
4 4
Have students change several improper fractions into mixed fractions
without using pictures.
Tell students that 7/2 pies is the same as 3 whole pies and another half a
pie. Ask: Is this the same as 2 whole pies and 3 halves? Do we ever write
2 3/2? Ask: When we find 7 ÷ 2, do we write the answer as 3 Remainder 1
or 2 Remainder 3? Tell your students that as with division, we want to have
the fewest number of pieces left over.
Extensions
1. Write the following numbers in order: 3 1 , 27 , 21 , 2 1 , 36 , 4 3
4 4 4 4 4 4
2. Investigation If Stick A is a/b of Stick B, what fraction of Stick A
is Stick B?
A. Draw Stick A 5 units long and Stick B 3 units long:

Stick A
Stick B
B. What fraction of Stick A is Stick B?
Put Stick B on top of Stick A. If Stick A is the whole, then the

denominator is 5 because Stick A has 5 equal-sized parts.
How many of those parts does Stick B take up? (3). So Stick B
is 3/5 of Stick A.
C. What fraction of Stick B is Stick A?
If Stick B is the whole, what is the denominator? (3) Why? (because
Stick B has 3 equal-sized parts) How many of those equal-sized
parts does Stick A take up? (5) So stick A is 5/3 of Stick B.
As a mixed number Stick A is 1 2/3 of Stick B since it takes up one

whole Stick B plus 2 more of those equal-sized parts, but we will
write our answers in terms of improper fractions instead of mixed
numbers.
process Expectation
D. Repeat the above with several examples. In this way, your students
Reflecting on what makes
will discover reciprocals. If you know what fraction Stick A is of
a problem easy or hard,
Stick B, what fraction is Stick B of Stick A? (just turn the fraction
selecting tools and strategies
upside down!)
ASK: Why was it more convenient to use improper fractions instead

of mixed numbers?

NS8-14 Comparing Fractions – Introduction
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m14; 8m1, Students will understand that as the numerator increases and the
8m7, review denominator stays the same, the fraction increases; as the numerator
WNCP: 6N4, review, stays the same and the denominator increases, the fraction decreases.
[R, C]
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
REQUIRED materials
Can name fractions strips of paper (see Activities)

Vocabulary Understands that fractions show
mixed number same-sized parts
improper fraction
Comparing fractions with like denominators. Have students decide which

is more and write the appropriate inequality between the numbers:
2 3
5 5
Repeat with several examples, eventually having students name the

fractions as well:
4 5 3 2
7 7 7 7

Which is greater:
1 or 2 ? 1 2 1 2 1 2
9 9 13 or 13 ? 74 or 74 ? 500 or 500 ?
process assessment 2 or 5 ? 3 or 4 9 or 8 35 or 8
9 9 17 17 ? 17 17 ? 78 17 ?
8m7, [C]
Workbook Questions 2 1 2 ?
or 709 91 or 54
709 1002 1002 ?
and 4

Bonus 7 432 869
or 24 52 645 54 154
24 401 401 ? 4 567 341 or 4 567 341 ?
Then ask students to order three fractions with the same denominator
(EXAMPLE: 2/7, 5/7, 4/7) from least to greatest, eventually using bigger
numerators and denominators. Repeat with lists of four fractions.

Bonus 4 11 8 19 6 12 5
21 , 21 , 21 , 21 , 21 , 21 , 21
7 , 13
Then write on the board: 10
10
Ask students to think of numbers that are between these two numbers.

Allow several students to volunteer answers. Then ask students to
write individually in their notebooks at least one fraction between the
following pairs.
4
a) 11 9 3 9 4 13 d) 21 25 e) 131 67 72
11 b) 12 12 c) 16
16 48 48 131

Bonus 104 140
18 301 18 301
Comparing fractions with like numerators. Draw on the board:
1
2
1
3
1
4
Ask: Which fraction shows the most: 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4? Do you think one fifth
of this strip will be more or less than one quarter of it? Will one eighth be
more or less than one tenth?
Ask: Is a half always bigger than a quarter. Is half a minute longer or

shorter than a quarter of an hour? Is half a centimetre longer or shorter than
a quarter of a metre? When is a half always bigger than a quarter? Allow
everyone who wishes to attempt to articulate an answer. Summarize by
saying: A half of something is always more than a quarter of the same thing.
But if we compare different things, a half of something might very well be
less than a quarter of something else. When mathematicians say that
1/2 >1/4, they mean that half of something is always more than a quarter of
the same thing; it doesn’t matter what you take as your whole, as long as
it’s the same whole for both fractions.
Draw the following strips on the board:
Ask: Are the two wholes the same length? (yes) Ask students to name the
fractions and then to tell you which is more. (3/4 > 3/8)
Ask: If you cut the same strip into more and more same-sized pieces, what
happens to the size of each piece? (the pieces get smaller)
Draw the following picture on the board to help students see the answer:
1 piece = one whole
2 same-sized pieces in one whole
many same-sized pieces in one whole
Ask: Do you think that one third of a pie is more or less pie than one fifth
of the same pie? Would you rather have a piece when the pie is cut into 3

pieces or 5 pieces? Which way will you get more? Ask a volunteer to show
how we write that mathematically (1/3 > 1/5).
If you get 7 pieces, would you rather the pie be cut into 20 pieces or 30?
Which way will get you more pie? How do we write that mathematically?
(7/20 > 7/30)
Ordering fractions. Ask students to compare pairs of fractions with the

same numerator.
EXAMPLES: i) 3/5 and 3/7 ii) 6/17 and 6/15 iii) 5/102 and 5/109
Then ask students to order three or more fractions with the same numerator.
7 7 7 7
EXAMPLES: , , ,
13 20 5 15
Now give students lists of fractions where two have the same numerator
and two have the same denominator, and have students order the fractions
(construct the list so that this is possible).
EXAMPLE: 3/5, 3/7, 4/5, but not 3/5, 3/7, 4/7. (The second list is not
comparable using only the strategies discussed so far because 3/7 is less
than both 3/5 and 4/7 and students cannot yet compare 3/5 and 4/7.)
Have students compare and order mixed numbers and improper fractions
using this method.
1 19 25
EXAMPLE: 3 , ,
8 8 7
ANSWER: Changing 3 1/8 to an improper fraction results in 25/8 which is
greater than 19/8 but less than 25/7, by the methods of this section.
Finally, have students compare 13/87 and 14/86 by finding a fraction

with the same numerator as one and the same denominator as the other:
13/86 or 14/87. For example, 13/86 is more than 13/87 but less than 14/86,
which means 13/87 is less than 14/86. Another way to reason about the
problem is that 14/86 has more pieces (14 instead of 13) and each piece
is bigger (an eighty-sixth instead of an eighty-seventh), so it represents the
bigger fraction.

Bonus Have students order the following fractions:
21 21 21 8 19 13 19 13 19
28 22 22 200 105 200 28 105 61
Say: Two fractions have the same numerator and different denominators.
How can you tell which fraction is bigger? Why? The same number of
pieces gives more when the pieces are bigger. The numerator tells you the
number of pieces, so when the numerator is the same, you just look at the
denominator. The bigger the denominator, the more pieces you have to
share between and the smaller the portion you get. So bigger denominators
give smaller fractions when the numerators are the same.
ASK: If two fractions have the same denominator and different numerators,
how can you tell which fraction is bigger? Why? If the denominators are the
same, the size of the pieces are the same. So just as 2 pieces of the same

size are more than 1 piece of that size, 84 pieces of the same size are more
than 76 pieces of that size.
process assessment Have students answer these questions in their notebooks.
Reflecting on what made the a) Why is 2/5 greater than 2/7?
problem easy or hard b) Why is it easy to compare 2/5 and 2/12?
Comparing fractions using 1 whole as a benchmark. Write the two

fractions 3/4 and 4/5 on the board. ASK: Do these fractions have the same
numerator? The same denominator? (no, neither) Explain that we cannot
compare these fractions directly using the methods in this section, so we
need to draw a picture:
Have a volunteer shade the fraction 3/4 on the first strip and the faction
4/5 on the second strip. ASK: On which strip is a greater area shaded? On
which strip is a smaller area unshaded? How many pieces are not shaded?
What is the fraction of unshaded pieces in each strip? (1/4 and 1/5) Can
you compare these fractions directly? (yes, they have the same numerator).
Emphasize that if there is less unshaded, then there is more shaded. So 4/5
is a greater fraction than 3/4 because the unshaded part of 4/5 (i.e., 1/5) is
smaller than the unshaded part of 3/4 (i.e., 1/4 ).
Repeat for other such pairs of fractions. (draw the pictures when the
numerators and denominators are small.) EXAMPLES:
7 and 8 , 7 and 5 , 89 and 74 , 3 and 4 , 72 and 34 , 56 and 39
8 9 8 6 90 75 5 6 74 36 76 59
process Expectation Have students write the following fractions in order from least to greatest
Communicating and explain how they found the order.
1 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 2 3
, , , , ANSWER: , , , ,
3 2 3 4 8 8 3 2 3 4
ACTIVITIES 1-2
1. Give each student three strips of paper. Ask students to fold one
strip into halves, one into quarters, and one into eighths. Use the strips
to find a fraction between
a) 3 and 5 (one answer is 1 )

8 8 2
1
b) and 2 (one answer is 3 )
4 4 8
5 7
c) and (one answer is ) 3
8 8 4
Keep these strips for the next lesson.
2. Have students fold a strip of paper (the same length as those folded
in Activity 1) into thirds by guessing and checking. Students should
number their guesses. Then ASK: Is 1/3 a good answer for any part of
Activity 1? How about 2/3 ?

Try folding here too short, so try a little further
First guess
next guess
Extensions
1. If 13/x > 13/47, what can you say about x?
connection 2. Two players play a game with a red die and a blue die. They make a
Probability fraction from rolling the dice as follows: the red die gives the numerator
and the blue die gives the denominator. Player A wins if the fraction is
more than 1/2 and Player B wins if the fraction is less than 1/2.
a) Ask students to give examples of rolls that result in a win for Player
A, a win for Player B, and a tie. Alternatively, give students examples of
rolls and ask them to identify the winner, or play the game briefly as a
class (you could be Player A and the class as a whole could be Player
B). You could record possible plays in a table. EXAMPLE:
red blue fraction Winner

4 3 4/3 Player A
1 5 1/5 Player B
3 6 3/6 tie
b) Is the game fair? If not, who is more likely to win? If necessary,
remind students that a fair game is one in which the probability of
winning is the same for both players. (The game is not fair because
Player A is more likely to win: if the red die is 4 or more, Player A surely
wins; otherwise, Player A sometimes wins.)
c) Player B thinks they should change the game so that the blue die
gives the numerator and the red die gives the denominator. Will this
help Player B win more games? (No, the probability of getting a fraction
more than 1/2 is exactly the same in both games.)
d) What fraction, instead of 1/2, should the players use to make the
game fair? (1; then A wins if the red die is more than the blue die, and B
wins if the blue die is more than the red die)

NS8-15 Equivalent Fractions
Page xxxx
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m14; 8m5, 8m6, Students will understand that different fractions can mean the same
review amount. Students will find equivalent fractions by using pictures.
WCNP: 7N5, review, [CN, V]
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
REQUIRED materials
Can compare fractions modelling clay

Vocabulary Understands that fractions can fraction strips (from NS8-17
equivalent fractions name an area or a set Activity 1)
Introduce equivalent fractions. Show several pairs of fractions on fraction

strips and have students say which is larger. example:
8
9
3
4
Include many examples where the two fractions are equivalent. Tell
your students that when two fractions look different but actually show
the same amount, they are called equivalent fractions. Have students find
pairs of equivalent fractions from the fraction strips from NS8-17 Activity
1. Tell them that we have seen other examples of equivalent fractions in
previous classes and ask if anyone knows where. (There are 2 possible
answers here: fractions that represent 1 whole are all equivalent, as are
fractions representing 2 wholes, and mixed fractions have an equivalent
improper fraction.)
Finding equivalent fractions using fraction strips. Then have students find
equivalent fractions by shading the same amount in the second strip as in
the first strip and writing the shaded amount as a fraction:
1 =
2 4
Show students the fraction strip chart below and have volunteers fill in the
blank areas.
1 whole
1 1
2 2
1 1 1 1
4 4 4 4
1 1 1 1 1
5 5 5 5 5

Shade the fraction 1/2 and then ASK: What other fractions can you see
that are equivalent to 1/2 ? (2/4 or 4/8 or 5/10). What other fraction from the
chart is equivalent to 3/4?(6/8) Repeat with 8/10, 3/5, 1/5 and 4/10. What
fractions on the chart are equivalent to 1 whole?
Finding equivalent fractions using grouping. Draw several copies of a

square on the board with two thirds, shaded:
ASK: What fraction of each square is shaded? (2/3) Then draw a line to
cut one square into 6 equal parts, draw 2 lines to cut another square into
9 equal parts, draw 3 lines to cut a square into 12 equal parts, and draw 4
lines to cut the last square into 15 equal parts.
Have volunteers name the equivalent fractions shown by the pictures

( 2 = 4 = 6 = 8 = 10 )
3 6 9 12 15
Then write on the board:
2 × = 4 2 × = 6
— — — —
3 × = 6 3 × = 9
2 × = 8 2 × = 10
— — — —
3 × = 12 3 × = 15
For each picture, ASK: How many times more shaded pieces are there?
How many times more pieces are there altogether? Emphasize that if each
piece (shaded or unshaded) is divided into 4, then, in particular, each
shaded piece is divided into 4. Hence if the number of pieces in the figure
is multiplied by 4, the number of shaded pieces will also be multiplied by
4: that is why you multiply the top and bottom of a fraction by the same
number to make an equivalent fraction.
For the pictures below, have students divide each piece into equal parts
so that there are a total of 12 pieces. Then have them write the equivalent
fractions with the multiplication statements for the numerators and
denominators:
ANSWERS: 2 × 4 = 8 1 ×3 = 3 5 × 2 = 10
3× 4 12 4 ×3 12 6 × 2 12

Grouping small groups into larger groups to make an equivalent
fraction. See Question 3.

Group the squares to make an equivalent fraction.

15 5 10 5
ANSWERS: = =
24 8 16 8
Recall the Activity from NS8-8. Have ready 18 small balls of modelling clay,
all the same size: 6 white and 12 red. Ask for two volunteers. Have one
volunteer take 1 small white ball and 2 small red balls and thoroughly mix
the balls together. At the same time, have another volunteer mix 2 small
white balls and 4 small red balls. Discuss with the class which ball they
think will look more red when finished.
Next ask for three volunteers. Have each of them mix 2 balls together: one
volunteer mixes 2 small white balls together and the other two mix 2 small
red balls together. In the end, you will have 1 large white ball and 2 large
red balls. ASK: Are all these balls the same size? (yes, because the original
balls were all the same size and each larger ball consists of two original
balls) Will mixing 1 large white ball and 2 large red balls result in the same
colour as mixing 1 small white ball and 2 small red balls? (yes, because
the fraction of red modelling clay is 2/3 in each) Verify this directly with the
class. Will mixing 1 large white ball and 2 large red balls result in the same
colour as mixing 2 small white balls and 4 small red balls? (yes) How do
you know? (the amount of white modelling clay and red modelling clay
is the same in each; mixing 1 large white and 2 large red balls is just like
mixing 2 small white and 4 small red balls because that’s how you made
the large balls in the first place) ASK: What equivalent fractions does that
show? (1/3 = 2/6 and 2/3 = 4/6)
process Expectation Discuss how grouping the balls of modelling clay is similar to grouping
Connecting, Modelling squares in Question 3. In both cases, you are making larger groups from
the same number of equal-sized smaller groups.
process assessment ACTIVITY

8m6, [V] Give your students 10 counters of one colour and 10 counters of a
Workbook Questions 5 different colour. Ask them to make a model of a fraction that can be
described in at least three different ways.
Here are two possible solutions:

1 = 2 = 4 6 =2=1
2 4 8 12 4 2

Extensions
1. Use a ruler to draw lines of different lengths on the board, and use an X
or shading to mark different fractions of the line. Write two fractions for
each line. EXAMPLE:
3 cm
_____ 30 mm
_______
7 cm 70 mm
ASK: Are these fractions equivalent? Students can draw more lines
and write the corresponding equivalent fractions using different units,
including decimetres.
2. Write as many equivalent fractions as you can for each picture.
3. L
ist 3 fractions between 1/2 and 1. Hint: Change 1/2 to an equivalent
fraction with a different denominator (Example: 4/8 ) and then
increase the numerator or decrease the denominator. Show your
answers on a number line (this part is easier if they increase the
numerator instead of decrease the denominator).
4. Ask students to use the patterns in the numerators and denominators

of the equivalent fractions below to fill in the missing numbers.
a) =2 =3 =4 = b) = 6 = 9 = 12 = --
3 6 9 15 5 10 20
c) = = 9 = 12 = --
4 8 12 16
5. Ask students if the same patterning method as in Extension 4 will work
to find equivalent fractions in these patterns:
a) 2 = = = 5 = 6 b) 1 = 3 = 5 = =
3 6 9 2 8 10
process expectation Have students discuss how these questions differ from the ones above.
Revisiting conjectures that Ensure that students understand that each fraction in a sequence
were true in one context. of equivalent fractions is obtained by multiplying the numerator
and denominator of a particular fraction by the same number. In
these examples, the patterns are only obtained through adding, not
multiplying, so the pattern will not produce a sequence of equivalent
fractions.
6. Find a fraction equivalent to 2/3 so that:

a) its denominator is 3 more than its numerator (6/9)
b) its denominator is 5 more than its numerator (10/15)
c) its numerator is a multiple of 3 (e.g. 6/9)
d) its denominator is a multiple of 5 (e.g. 10/15)
7. Can you find a fraction equivalent to 3/5 whose denominator is 17

more than its numerator? Hint: Start by listing fractions equivalent to
3/5 in an organized way, and check the differences between numerator
and denominator. What do you notice? (list the fractions equivalent to
3/5: 3/5, 6/10, 9/15, … These have denominator - numerator = 2, 4, 6,
…. So the difference is always a multiple of 2. 17 is not a multiple of 2,
so there is no fraction equivalent to 3/5 whose denominator is 17 more
than its numerator)

NS8-16 Comparing Fractions Using

Page 25
Equivalent Fractions
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 6m14; 8m1, 8m2, Students will compare fractions with different denominators by
8m3, 8m5, 8m6, 8m7, changing both fractions to have the same denominator.
review
WNCP: 7N5, review, PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED materials
[C, R, ME, V, CN]
Can compare fractions with the same Balls and flags from
denominator Activity in NS8-8
Can change a fraction to an equivalent fraction
with a different denominator
Vocabulary Can find lowest common multiples (LCMs)
lowest common multiple
process expectation Finding fractions with the same denominator to compare fractions.
Changing into a known Have students write out sequences of equivalent fractions for two fractions
problem and then find one from each list so that both have the same denominator.
Discuss how they can use this to order the fractions.

3
= = = = = = =
4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32
5
= = = = = = =
7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56
Repeat for 3 and 7 and then for 7 and 5 .

4 10 10 7
Finally, have students attempt to find a common denominator for all three
of the fractions above (instead of two at a time). Discuss how this is a lot
of work; it is easier to compare them two at a time because the common
denominators for the pairs are smaller than the common denominator for
all three.
process expectation Also, notice that the common denominator is a multiple of both the
Connecting denominators. You simply made a list of all the multiples until you found
one in common. ASK: Have you done this before? Does this remind you of
anything? (finding the lowest common multiple)
Finding equivalent fractions by multiplying the numerator and

denominator by the same number. Demonstrate how to find equivalent
fractions with the same denominators for the three pairs above using the
LCM of the denominators:
3 7
and (LCM of 4 and 7 is 28 so find equivalent fractions with that
4 10
denominator: 3 × 7 = 21 and 5 × 4 = 20 )
4 × 7 28 7 × 4 28
3 and 7 (LCM of 4 and 10 is 20: 3 × 5 15 and 7 × 2 14 )
= =
4 10 4 × 5 20 10 × 2 20

7 and 5 (LCM of 7 and 10 is 70: 7 × 7 49 and 5 ×10 50 )
= =
10 7 10 × 7 70 7 ×10 70
Finally, have students find a common denominator for all three fractions
and then find the equivalent fractions with that denominator and order the
process expectation three fractions. Discuss how this is easier than using lists.
Reflecting on what made the EXTRA PRACTICE:
problem easy or hard Compare these fractions by using the LCM of the denominators.
a) 3 and 5 b) 2 and 3 c) 2 and 8

5 8 3 4 3 11
process expectation Comparing methods of solving problems. Now look at Questions 3 and
4 in the workbook. In this case, would it be easier to compare the fractions
Selecting tools and strategies
in Question 3, two at a time, in order to put them in order for Question 4—or
would it be easier to find a common denominator for all 8 fractions? Why?
What is different about the two situations? (ANSWER: In the extra practice
question at the beginning of the lesson, the lowest common multiple of all
3 denominators was quite large, so finding it required a lot of work; also,
comparing 2 fractions at a time required only 3 comparisons because
there were only 3 fractions. In Question 3, however, there are 8 fractions,
so comparing 2 at a time would be a lot of work; also, the lowest common
multiple of all 8 denominators is relatively small.)
process expectation Using a benchmark to compare fractions. Compare these fractions by

comparing them all to 1: 1/4, 4/7, 5/8, 7/10. ASK: By how much is each
Using logical reasoning
fraction less than 1? (3/4, 3/7, 3/8, and 3/10) Which fraction is closest to
1? How do you know? (7/10 is closest to 1, because 3/10 is the smallest
fraction in the list above) Write the fractions in order from smallest to
greatest. (They were in order to begin with: 1/4, 4/7, 5/8, 7/10.) Have
students decide which is greater between 37/40 and 43/46. Which fraction
is closer to 1?
Have students write many equivalent fractions for 3/4:

3
= = = = =
4 8 12 16 20 24
Then have students order the following fractions by comparing them all
to 3/4:
5 , 11 , 17 , 7 , 13 , 19 (ANSWER: 5 , 11 , 17 , 19 , 13 , 7 )
8 16 24 8 16 24 8 16 24 24 16 8

Bonus for Question 5: How much more than 1/2 is 5/9?
(ANSWER: 5/9 = 10/18 is 1/18 more than 1/2)
Where does 5/9 fit in the list in Workbook Question 5 c)?

(It is the smallest fraction because it is greater than 1/2 by the
least amount.)

process assessment Have students decide which of these fractions is greater and explain how
they know: 101/200 or 151/300?
8m7, [C]
ACTIVITY
process expectation Give students their balls and flags from the Activity in NS8-8. Have
Modelling, Mental math and students organize themselves into groups with people who chose the
estimation same two colours they did. For example, suppose five people chose
red and blue as their two colours. Have those students order their balls
by colour, from most red to least red, and then order the fractions for
red from the recipes in order from greatest to least. Each student in
the group should use equivalent fractions with the same denominator
to check the ordering of the fractions. Ask the class as a whole why
process assessment they might expect slight disagreements between the results from using
8m2, [R] Workbook modelling and their individual results from checking mathematically.
Question 5 Which order of fractions do they think will be the correct order? What
mistakes may have been made when comparing the balls of modelling
clay? (it might be hard to tell which has more red; the colours may not
have been mixed thoroughly; the balls might not have exactly the same
amount of modelling clay)
process expectation Comparing mixed numbers and improper fractions using equivalent
Reflecting on other ways to fractions. You can compare 13/4 and 3 2/7 two ways:
solve the problem, Reflecting 1. Change both to improper fractions (13/4 and 23/7) and then to fractions
on what made the problem with the same denominator ( 13 × 7 = 91 and 23 × 4 = 92 ).
easy or hard 4×7 28 7× 4 28
2. Change both to mixed numbers (3 1/4 and 3 2/7) and then compare the
fractional parts only.
Have students do both. Do they get the same answer both ways? Which way
is easier? Why? (Some students might say that using mixed numbers
is easier because the numbers involved in the fractional parts only are
smaller compared to the numbers involved in the improper fraction; others
might say that using improper fractions is easier because they find it easier
to change mixed numbers to improper fractions than to change improper
fractions to mixed numbers. Accept all answers.)
EXTRA PRACTICE:
Compare the following using equivalent fractions. Decide whether to change
to improper fractions or mixed numbers.
a) 18 and 3 7
5 9
18 = 3 3 , so compare
3 to 7 . These are equivalent to
5 5 5 9
3 × 9 27 and 7 × 5 35 , so 7 is greater.
= = 3
5 × 9 45 9 × 5 45 9

b) 5 3 and 121 c) 7 3 and 221 is greater
4 21 8 30
( 121 is greater) ( 7 3 is greater)

21 8
Extensions
process expectation
1. Is it easier to compare fractions using numerators or denominators?
Reflecting on what makes
a problem easy or hard; Write these fractions on the board: 5/43, 2/19
Reflecting on other ways to ASK: Would you compare these fractions using common numerators
solve a problem or common denominators? Why? Students may suggest that it will be
easier to use common numerators because the numerators are much
smaller than the denominators, so the calculations will be easier. Ask
students to compare the fractions both ways. You might have half the
class do the comparison one way and the other half do it the other way.
Encourage students to do only those calculations that are necessary to
determine which fraction is greater. Then discuss the results:
To compare the fractions using common denominators, we compare
5 ×19 and 2 × 43 .
43 ×19 19 × 43
To compare them using common numerators, we compare

5 × 2 and 2 × 5 .
43 × 2 19 × 5
Point out that in the first case, we don’t need to compute the common
denominator 43 × 19, we just need to compare the numerators. Since
5 × 19 = 95 and 2 × 43 = 86, 5/43 is greater (when fractions have
the same denominator, the one with the larger numerator is greater).
Similarly, to compare the fractions using common numerators, we don’t
need to compute the common numerator, only the denominators (when
fractions have the same numerator, the one with the smaller denominator
is greater). But the denominators we need to calculate—5 × 19 and 2
× 43— are the same as the numerators we calculated using the other
method!
While it is tempting to think that the comparison using common

numerators is easier because the numerators are smaller than the
denominators, the computations required are the same in both cases.
Students can compare more such pairs of fractions to confirm that this is
true in general.
process expectation Then ask students to compare fractions with small denominators and
large numerators. EXAMPLE: 81/4, 37/2
Revisiting conjectures that
Is one method easier than the other in this case?
were true in one context
2 6
2. If > , what can you say about x? (x is greater than 21)
7 x
NS8-17 Adding and Subtracting Fractions

Page 25
− Introduction
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m24; 8m1, 8m6, Students will add and subtract fractions with the same denominators.
review
WNCP: 7N5, review, [R, V]
Can name fractions, including mixed numbers and improper fractions

Can add and subtract whole numbers
Vocabulary
fraction What it means to add fractions. Draw two large circles and divide them
regrouping into four quarters each, shading them as shown.
numerator
denominator
Explain that these are two plates with pieces of pizza on each. How much
process expectation
pizza do you have on each plate? Write the fractions beneath the pictures.
Changing into a known Tell students that you would like to combine all the pieces onto one plate,
problem so put the + sign between the fractions and ask a volunteer to draw the
results on a different plate. How much pizza do you have now?
Draw on the board:
1 + 2 =
4 4
Tell your students that you would like to regroup the shaded pieces so that
they fit onto one circle. Say: I shaded two fourths of one circle and one
fourth of another circle. If I move the shaded pieces to one circle, what
fraction of that circle will be shaded? How many pieces of the third circle do
I need to shade? Tell students that mathematicians call this process adding
fractions. Just as we can add whole numbers, we can add fractions too.
Do several examples of this, like 1/5 + 2/5, 1/3 +1/3, never extending past 1
whole circle. ASK: You are adding two fractions. Is the result a fraction too?
Does the size of a piece change when we transport pieces from one plate
to the other? What part of the fraction reflects the size of the piece—top or
bottom, numerator or denominator? When you add fractions, which part
stays the same; the top or the bottom, the numerator or the denominator?
What does the numerator of a fraction represent? (the number of shaded
pieces) How do you find the total number of shaded pieces when you move
them to one pizza? What operation do you use?
Show more examples using pizzas, and then have students add the
fractions without pizzas. Assign lots of questions.
EXAMPLES: 3/5 + 1/5, 2/7 + 3/7 , 2/11+ 4/11, etc. Enlarge the
denominators gradually.

Bonus Add: 18 + 45 67 + 78 67 + 49
134 134 1 567 1 567 456 456

Bonus Add three or more fractions:
3 + 1 + 2 5 + 4 + 7 3 + 2 + 5 + 1 + 3
17 17 17 94 94 94 19 19 19 19 19
Introduce subtracting fractions. Return to the pizzas and say that now you
are taking pieces of pizza away. There was 3/4 of a pizza on a plate. You
took away 1/4. Show on a model the one piece you took away:
How much pizza is left? Repeat with several more fractions and pizzas, and
repeat the sequence of questions you asked for addition.
EXAMPLES: 7 − 1 , 5 − 3 , 3 − 2 .
8 8 6 6 5 5
Then have students subtract some fractions without using pizzas. Assign
lots of questions; enlarge the denominators gradually.
EXAMPLES: 11 - 13 , 10 - 7 , 12 - 5 .
8 8 56 56 803 803
Finally, have students solve problems that involve both addition and
subtraction (see Workbook Question 6).
Adding fractions can result in more than one whole.

Draw on the board:
3 + 2 =
4 4
Ask how many parts are shaded in total and how many parts are in one
whole circle. Tell your students that, when adding fractions, we like to
regroup the pieces so that they all fit onto one circle. Ask: Can we do that
in this case? Why not? Tell them that since there are more pieces shaded
than in one whole circle, the next best thing we can do is to regroup them
so that we fit as many pieces onto the first circle as we can and then we put
only the leftover parts onto the second circle.
Draw on the board:
Ask: How many parts are shaded in the first circle and how many more
parts do we need to shade in the second circle? Ask a volunteer to shade
that many pieces and then tell them that mathematicians write this as:
3 + 2= 5=11
4 4 4 4
Add mixed numbers and improper fractions. EXAMPLES: 5 + 2 3
4 4
The role of zero in adding and subtracting fractions. Have students do
these problems:
a) 3 − 3 b) 2 + 0 c) 3 − 0 d) 6 − 0 e) 12 + 0
5 5 7 7 8 8 7 3
Point out that any fraction with 0 in the numerator is equal to 0, since 0
divided by any number is 0.

NS8-18 Adding and Subtracting Fractions
Pages 27–28
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m24; 8m1 Students will add and subtract proper fractions with unlike denominators
WNCP: 7N5, [R] by constructing equivalent fractions with like denominators
Can find equivalent fractions.

Vocabulary Can add and subtract fractions with the same denominator
equivalent fractions Can find lowest common multiples and greatest common factors
lowest common denominator
(LCD)
lowest terms Using what you know to add fractions with unlike denominators. Review
reducing to lowest terms adding fractions with the same denominator. Then challenge students to
Greatest common factor find a way to add fractions with different denominators. Discuss the strategy
(GCF) of changing the problem into one they already know how to do. Emphasize
that if students know how to add fractions with the same denominator, and
can change fractions into ones with the same denominator, then they can
process expectation add any pair of fractions.
Changing into a known Challenge students to find two fractions with the same denominator so that
problem they can add 1/3 and 3/5:
1
= = = = = =
3 6 9
3
= = = = = =
5 10
1 5 3 9 1 3 5 9 14
Explain that since = and = , then + = + =
3 15 5 15 3 5 15 15 15
Have students use this method to add:

a) 2 1 b) 1 2 c) 3 1
+ + +
3 5 4 3 4 5
Have students subtract, using their lists above:
a) 2 1 b) 2 1 c) 3 1
- - -
3 5 3 4 4 5
The lowest common denominator (LCD). Explain that by finding the first
fraction in each list with the same denominator, students are finding the
lowest number that is a multiple of both denominators. Ask students if they
know the name for this number. (lowest common multiple) ASK: When
else have you used the lowest common multiple of the denominators of
fractions? (when comparing fractions, students found two fractions with
the same denominator) Tell students that because the lowest common
multiples of the denominators are so useful when working with fractions—
either comparing or adding them—mathematicians have come up with a
name specifically for the lowest common multiple of the denominators.

The lowest common denominator of two or more fractions is the lowest
common multiple of the denominators.
Adding and subtracting fractions by finding the lowest common

denominator. See Questions 1 and 2 on the worksheet.
Identifying fractions in lowest terms. A fraction is in lowest terms when

the only whole number that divides into its numerator and denominator
is 1, i.e., 1 is the only factor of both the numerator and denominator.
Have volunteers decide if each fraction is in lowest terms: 2/6, 3/5, 1/4,
2/4. Students could do this by listing the factors of each numerator and
denominator and seeing if there are any common factors other than 1.
Have students copy in their notebooks only those fractions that are in
lowest terms: 3/6 4/7 4/8 4/9 4/10 3/7 2/8 2/9 3/9

Bonus 12/50 42/96 36/175
Reducing fractions to lowest terms. Tell students that the process of

rewriting a fraction in lowest terms is called reducing the fraction to lowest
terms. It is the most convenient form for a fraction to be in because it
names the fraction using the smallest possible numbers. Emphasize that
“reducing” here does not mean reducing the value of the fraction—the
value stays the same; only the numerator and denominator are reduced.
Remind students that to make an equivalent fraction with a greater

numerator and denominator, they can multiply both the numerator and
denominator by the same number. To make an equivalent fraction with a
smaller numerator and denominator, they can divide both the numerator
and denominator by the same number. This is called reducing the fraction.
Have students reduce the following fractions by dividing both the numerator
and denominator by the same number; continue reducing until the fraction
is in lowest terms.
700/750 (= 14/15) 336/504 (= 2/3) 378/420 (= 9/10)
Explain that in order to divide both numerator and denominator by the

same number, that number has to be a factor of both. So to get the smallest
possible numerator and denominator, divide by the greatest common factor
of the numerator and denominator.
Have students add and subtract fractions by finding the LCD (lowest
common denominator) and then reduce their answer to lowest terms. See
Question 6 on the worksheet.
process assessment
Extension
7m1, [R] 1. Find the next two fractions in the pattern: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
2 6 12 20
Three solutions:
• Consider separately the patterns in the numerators (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7,… ) and denominators (2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56,…). The gaps between
terms in the denominators are 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14,…, which gives the
pattern “start at 4, add 2 each time.”

• Reduce the fractions to lowest terms: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5. The pattern
of lowest terms continues as follows: 1/6, 1/7, 1/8,…. But in the actual
pattern, the numerators and denominators of the first fraction are
multiplied by 1, 2, 3, 4,…, so the pattern continues as follows: 5/30,
6/42, 7/56.
• Consider the patterns in the numerators and denominators separately

as in the first solution, but this time find the nth term in the denominator in
terms of n: the nth term is n × (n + 1).
2. Use prime factorizations to find the greatest common factor of the

numerator and denominator, then reduce the fractions to lowest terms.
a) 432 b) 1024 c) 729
540 5120 810
SAMPLE SOLUTION: a) 432 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 and

540 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5
The greatest common factor is 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3, so dividing both

numerator and denominator by their greatest common factor, we get:
432/540 = (2 × 2)/5 = 4/5.
ANSWERS: b) 1/5 c) 9/10

NS8-19 Adding and Subtracting Mixed Numbers
Pages 29–30
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m24; 8m1, 8m3, Students will add and subtract mixed numbers and improper fractions
8m6, review with like denominators.
WNCP: 7N5, review,
[R, CN, V] PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED
Can add and subtract proper fractions with like and unlike denominators
Can translate between mixed numbers and improper fractions
Vocabulary
Mixed numbers Add mixed fractions with the same denominator using pictures. Start with
Improper fractions problems where the fractional parts add to less than 1, then progress to
process expectation problems where students will need to simplify their answer.
3 1
EXAMPLE: Start with 4 +1 :
8 8
4 1
+ = = 5 =5
8 2
Progress to 4
5 7
+1 :
8 8
+ =
4 1
= 6 =6
8 2
Subtract mixed fractions with the same denominator using pictures.
See Workbook Question 1. Start with subtraction problems where both the
whole number part and the numerator of the fractional part of the number
being subtracted are smaller than in the number you are subtracting from.
7 3 3 7
EXAMPLE: 5 - 2 (not 5 - 2 )
8 8 8 8
Then progress to problems where the fractional part of the number being
taken away is bigger than the fractional part of the number it is being
subtracted from. EXAMPLE: 5 3/8 – 2 7/8. ASK: How is this problem
different from the problems you have seen so far? (the fractional part of the
smaller number is bigger) Can you still subtract by using a picture? (Yes,
but you would have to cut one of the whole pies in 5 3/8 into 8 pieces so
that you look at the fraction as 4 and 11/8 rather than 5 and 3/8:
Now you can take away 2 and 7/8. This leaves you with 2 wholes and
4 eighths.
3 7 11 7 4 1
So 5 -2 = 4 -2 = 2 = 2 .
8 8 8 8 8 2
Add mixed numbers with different denominators. Add the whole number
parts and the fractional parts separately. If the fractional parts add to more
than 1, students will need to simplify. Have students practise this skill as in
Question 5 on the worksheet.
process assessment Subtract mixed numbers with different denominators. Subtract the whole
number parts and the fractional parts separately. If the fractional part of
8m7, [C]
the smaller fraction is bigger than the fractional part of the bigger fraction,
Workbook Question 29
students will need to first rewrite the bigger fraction by taking 1 away from
the whole number part and adding 1 to the fractional part (resulting in an
improper fractional part). See Question 6.
process expectation Adding and subtracting mixed numbers by using improper fractions.
Reflecting on what made Since each mixed number can be written as an improper fraction, students
the problem easy or hard, can rewrite the mixed numbers as improper fractions and add or subtract as
Reflecting on other ways to done in NS8-18.
solve a problem Have students verify that this method gives the same answer as the method
outlined in Questions 1 through 6.
process assessment
8m1, [R] Students can then discuss which method they find easier and why. For
Workbook Questions 8–10 example, because the numerators of the fractional part of the mixed
numbers are smaller than the numerators of the improper fraction, using
mixed numbers might be considered easier. However, it is still useful to
know both methods as a self-checking mechanism. Also, some students
might find using improper fractions easier because then they don’t have to
worry about regrouping at the end.

NS8-20 Mental Math
Page 31
Curriculum Goal
Expectations
Ontario: 7m24, review Students will mentally subtract mixed numbers with like denominators.
WNCP: 7N5, review, [ME]
Can subtract by counting forward

Can add and subtract fractions with like denominators
EXTRA PRACTICE for Questions 1 and 2:

Students can draw their own number lines on grid paper if it
helps them.
2 1
a) 5 8 b) 7 9
3 4
2 1
So 8 - 5 = _____ So 9 - 7 = _____
3 4
5 7
c) 3 10 d) 34 41
8 9
5 7
So 10 – 3 = _____ So 41- 34 = _____
8 9
2 3 5 5
a) 5 - 3 b) 10 - 5 c) 7 - 2 d) 37 - 30
7 4 8 7
2 1 1 2
a) 4 8 So 8 - 4 = _____
3 3 3 3
3 1 1 3
b) 5 10 So 10 - 5 = _____
4 4 4 4
5 2 2 5
c) 7 12 So 12 - 7 = _____
9 9 9 9
5 1 1 5
d) 38 42 So 42 - 38 = _____
7 7 7 7
process expectation EXTRA PRACTICE for Question 5:
Mental Math and 4 5 1 3 7 5 4 5
a) 5 -3 b) 10 -5 c) 6 -2 d) 37 - 32
Estimation 7 7 4 4 8 8 7 7

1 2 1 5 4 8 3 5
e) 8 -3 f) 12 -8 g) 7 -2 h) 56 - 49
3 3 8 8 9 9 7 7
Extensions
process assessment 1. Subtract mentally by mentally changing to a common denominator:
[ME] 1 3 1 1 5 3 1 1
a) 5 -2 b) 6 -3 c) 7 -2 d) 6 -4
Workbook Question 5 2 4 4 2 8 4 4 8
1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1
e) 5 -1 f) 5 -1 g) 5 -1 h) 9 -4
6 2 6 3 2 3 3 2
ANSWERS:
3 3 7 1
a) 2 b) 2 c) 4 d) 2
4 4 8 8
4 2 5 5 5
e) 3 =3 f) 3 g) 3 h) 4
6 3 6 6 6
Discuss: Which questions have the same answer? Can you see why?
Parts a) and b) have the same answer because both fractions in b) are 3/4
more than the corresponding fractions in a). Parts f) and g) have the same
answer because both fractions in g) are 1/3 more than the corresponding
fractions in f).
process expectation 2. Have students decide which two whole numbers the answer should be
[ME] between by estimating:
1 1 3 2 3 3
a) 8 -3 b) 8 -3 c) 8 -3
5 4 5 7 4 5
4 3 1 2
d) 8 +3 e) 8 +3
5 8 3 5
SOLUTIONS:
a) Because 1/4 is slightly more than 1/5, the answer will be slightly less
than 8 – 3 = 5.
b) Because 2/7 is less than 3/5, the answer will be more than 8 – 3 = 5,
but less than 6 because 3/5 is less than 1.
c) Because 3/5 is slightly less than 3/4, the answer will be slightly more
than 8 – 3 = 5.
d) 4/5 + 3/8 is more than 1 because 4/5 is further from 1/2 than 3/8 is, so
the answer will be more than 12.
e) 1/3 + 2/5 is less than 1/2 + 1/2 = 1, so the answer will be between
11 and 12.
Students should then check their estimates by calculating the answers.

NS8-21 Investigating Fractions and Division

Page 32
— Advanced
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m24; 8m5, review Students will see the connection between adding fractions with the
WNCP: 7N5, review, [CN] same denominator and the distributive law for division.
Can add fractions with the same denominator

Knows the distributive law for division
Relate improper fractions to division. ASK: What does the fraction 10/2
mean? What does the 2 mean? (number of parts in one whole) What does
the 10 mean? (number of parts you have)
Draw a picture to illustrate the fraction:
SAY: We have 10 pieces altogether and 2 pieces in one whole. That means
we have 10 ÷ 2 = 5 wholes, so 10/2 = 10 ÷ 2 = 5.
process expectation Have students write these fractions in terms of division and then divide
Connecting without using a calculator.
a) 12 b) 15 c) 18 d) 20
4 3 3 4
Answers:
a) 12 ÷ 4 = 3 b) 15 ÷ 3 = 5 c) 18 ÷ 3 = 6 d) 20 ÷ 4 = 5
Ask a volunteer to verify that the fraction 12/4 is equal to 3 by using a

picture instead of division.
SAMPLE ANSWER:
If each whole has 4 pieces, then 12 pieces make 3 wholes. Similarly,

if each whole has 4 pieces, then 10 pieces make 10 ÷ 4 = 2 1/2
wholes = 2.5 wholes:
Have students verify that 8/2 = 4 by using a picture.
Remind students that the fraction 1/4 means dividing 1 whole into 4 equal
parts. The fraction 1/4 is the size of one of those parts. So we can write
1/4 = 1 ÷ 4 = 0.25.

process assessment Have students write these fractions in terms of division and then divide
8m3, [CN, T] using a calculator.
a) 1 b) 1 c) 3 d) 7
5 10 5 10
Answers:
a) 1 ÷ 5 = 0.2 b) 1 ÷ 10 = 0.1 c) 3 ÷ 5 = 0.6 d) 7 ÷ 10 = 0.7
process expectation Adding improper fractions that represent whole numbers by using
Reflecting on other ways division. Review adding fractions with the same denominator. Then have
to solve a problem students add these fractions in two ways—first add the fractions using the
method of NS8-17, and then change the fractions to whole numbers and
add the whole numbers. Do students get the same answer both ways?
a) 4 + 6 b) 9 + 12 c) 25 + 30
2 2 3 3 5 5
SAMPLE ANSWER: b)
21 = 21 ÷ 3 = 7 or 3 + 4 = 7
3
Now have students write each fraction statement in terms of division.
Students should then verify by using division that the statement is correct.
a) 8 + 12 = 20 b) 15 + 9 = 24 c) 10 + 15 = 25
2 2 2 3 3 3 5 5 5
SAMPLE ANSWER: b) 15 ÷ 3 + 9 ÷ 3 = 24 ÷ 3, which is verified by writing
5 + 3 = 8 since 15 ÷ 3 = 5, 9 ÷ 3 = 3, and 24 ÷ 3 = 8.
Subtracting improper fractions that represent whole numbers by using

division. EXAMPLES:
a) 20 - 15 = 5 b) 20 - 12 = 8
5 5 5 4 4 4
The distributive property for division. Ask students if these division
statements remind them of a general property of division. Remind them of
this property: In general, a ÷ c + b ÷ c = (a + b) ÷ c.
Have students verify this equality for the following examples.

a) 6 ÷ 2 + 10 ÷ 2 = (6 + 10) ÷ 2
b) 12 ÷ 4 + 20 ÷ 4 = (12 + 20) ÷ 4
c) 15 ÷ 3 + 6 ÷ 3 = (15 + 6) ÷ 3
d) 5 ÷ 2 + 15 ÷ 2 = (5 + 15) ÷ 2
SAMPLE ANSWER: b) left side is 3 + 5 = 8 and right side is 32 ÷ 4 = 8
process expectation What does the distributive property for division mean for adding
Connecting fractions? Students should now write these division statements in terms
of fractions, and verify the sums.
SAMPLE ANSWERS: b) 12 + 20 = 32 d) 5 + 15 = 20
4 4 4 2 2 2
1 1
and 3 + 5 = 8 and 2 + 7 = 10
2 2

Discuss the relationship between the distributive property and adding
fractions with the same denominator: The denominator is the number being
divided by and this number is the same when using the distributive property
(each term is divided by c). This means that we have like denominators, so
we can add the numerators, which is exactly what the distributive property
tells us we can do.
When the distributive property doesn’t work. Show students the

following two expressions: 60 ÷ 4 + 60 ÷ 6 and 60 ÷ (4 + 6)
ASK: Are the numbers being divided by the same number in each case?
(no) What is the same about all the divisions? (the number being divided
into) Have students predict whether the two expressions will be equal
or not, without actually calculating the two expressions. ASK: Which
expression will be larger? How does the expression on the left compare to
60 ÷ 4? (it is larger) How do you know? (because we are adding something
to it) How does 60 ÷ (4 + 6) compare to 60 ÷ 4? (it is smaller) How do you
know? (because we are dividing 60 by a number larger than 4, so we will
get a smaller number than 60 ÷ 4)
Now have students calculate both expressions to verify that they are not
equal. (The left side is 15 + 10 = 25 and the right side is 60 ÷ 10 = 6.)
Notice that the left side is indeed larger than 60 ÷ 4 = 15 and the right side
is smaller.
Now have students write the same two expressions using fraction notation:
60 60 and 60
+
4 6 4+6
process assessment ASK: We know how to add fractions with the same denominator; is there
8m5, [CN] a rule for adding fractions with the same numerator? (no) Apply the
Workbook Question 6 arguments used above to explain why the left side should be larger than
60/4 and the right side should be less than 60/4. So they can’t be equal!

NS8-22 Word Problems with Adding and

Page 33
Subtracting Fractions
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m24; 8m3, review Students will solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of
WNCP: 7N5, review, [T, R] fractions and determine if the solution is reasonable.
Can add and subtract fractions (both proper and improper) and mixed
numbers with like and unlike denominators
process expectation Encourage students to solve the problems on the worksheet in different
ways. For example, Question 8 can be done two ways:
Reflecting on other ways
to solve a problem • Change the fractions of the hour to minutes (2/3 h = 40 min and 1/2 h =
30 min) so that Trevor has 10 minutes left. Ten minutes is 1/6 of an hour.
• Subtract the fractions directly: 2/3 – 1/2 = 4/6 – 3/6 = 1/6.
process expectation You could also encourage students to check their answers using a
calculator and division. EXAMPLE: for Question 6, students could calculate
Technology
6 + (3 ÷ 8) + 4 + (1 ÷ 2) + 4 + (1 ÷ 4) and then calculate their fractional
answer (should be 15 1/8) on the calculator (15 + 1 ÷ 8) and see if the
answers are the same.
Extensions
1. Calculate the first three expressions then predict the fourth:
a) 1 + 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
+ + = + + + =
2 4 2 4 8 2 4 8 16
Predict: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 =
2 4 8 16 32
ANSWERS: 3/4, 7/8, 15/16, prediction: 31/32. The pattern is to subtract
1 from the largest denominator in the addends to make the numerator;
the denominator in the answer is the same as the largest denominator in
the addends.
Look at the strategies your students used. Did they use the previous sum
to determine the next one, or did they look at each question as a new
question? For example, did they use 1/2 + 1/4 = 3/4 and then just add
3/4 + 1/8 to do the next problem, or did they treat 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 as a
new problem?
b) 1 + 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
+ + = + + + =
3 9 3 9 27 3 9 27 81
Predict: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 =
3 9 27 81 243

ANSWERS: 4/9, 13/27, 40/81, prediction: 121/243. The pattern is that
the denominator of the answer is again the largest denominator of the
fractions being added; the numerator is the largest whole number less
than half the denominator.
2. a) Calculate each difference.

1 1 1 1
- = - =
2 3 3 4
b) Calculate 1 - 1 + 1 - 1 in two ways:

2 3 3 4
i) Add your two answers from a).
ii) Ignore the two middle terms and just subtract 1 - 1 .
2 4
process assessment Do the two methods give the same answer? Why? (because subtracting
8m2, [R] 1/3 and adding 1/3 results in no change, just as 5 – 3 + 3 – 2 is the same
Workbook Question 14 as 5 – 2)

NS8-23 Fractions of Whole Numbers
Page 34-35
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m25; 8m1, 8m5, Students will use models to find fractions of whole numbers.
8m6, 8m7, review
WNCP: 8N6, [V, R, C, N, C]
Can name and model fractions

Can convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and vice versa
Vocabulary
fraction of a whole number What can you take a fraction of? For example, you can take a fraction
of a length, an area, a capacity or volume, time, or an angle. You can
even sometimes take a fraction of a person, if the context is right. You
can’t say 3 1/2 people went skating, but you can say that half of a person
is covered in paint. In the latter case, you are taking the fraction of a surface
area. You can also talk about fractions of people in averages. For example,
families in a certain region might have an average of 1 1/2 children. Of
course, no family can have exactly 1 1/2 children, but that average means
that probably most families have 1 child, some have 2 children, some
have 3, and so on. For example, the average of the following ten numbers is
1 1/2: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4. Each data value is a whole number, but the
average is a fraction.
Introduce fractions of a number. ASK: Can you take a fraction of a

number? What would that mean? What does “half of six” mean? If there
are six friends and half of them are girls, how many are girls? If there are
six juice boxes, and half of them are of apple juice, how many are of apple
juice? If the distance to a friend’s house is 6 km, how far away is the halfway
point? If I want to finish a race in six hours, when should I be at the halfway
point? Explain that since all of these questions have the same numeric
answer, we can say that the number 3 is half of the number 6.
process expectation Use pictures to show half. Explain that if you want to eat half a pizza, you
would divide the pizza into two equal parts and eat one of them:
Modelling
Similarly, if you wanted to eat half of six cherries, you would divide the six
cherries into two equal groups and eat one of the two groups:
There are three cherries in each group, so 3 is half of 6.
Have students draw pictures to show half of these numbers:

a) 4 b) 10 c) 16
Challenge students to decide how they would show half of 7. Explain that
you would put three in each group and split the one left between the two
groups, so you would put 3 1/2 in each group; half of 7 is 3 1/2.

Use pictures to find other fractions of whole numbers. ASK: If I wanted
to eat only one third of the cherries, how many groups should I make? (3)
Show this:
When you divide six cherries into three equal groups, and take one of those
groups, you are taking two of the cherries. So 1/3 of 6 cherries is 2 cherries.
Indeed, 1/3 of 6 anythings is 2 anythings.
ASK: What would two thirds be? Explain that you still need to make three
groups, but now you take two of the groups instead of just one:
Have students draw pictures to find these fractions of numbers:
a) 2 of 9 b) 3 of 10 c) 4 of 15
3 5 5
d) 3 of 12 e) 2 of 12 f) 5 of 12
4 3 6
ANSWERS: a) 6 b) 6 c) 12 d) 9 e) 8 f) 10
process expectation Use fractions of numbers to compare and order fractions. Have
Using logical reassuring students look at their answers above. ASK: How can you use your answers
to decide what is larger: 2/3 or 3/4? Which two answers did you look at?
(from the answers to d) and e), 3/4 of 12 is 9 and 2/3 of 12 is 8, so 3/4 is
more than 2/3)
Have students find the following fractions of 20 and then use the answers to
write the fractions in order from smallest to largest.
a) 3/4 b) 7/10 c) 3/5 d) 4/5
process expectation Using division to find fractions (with numerator 1) of whole numbers.
Modelling, Connecting ASK: How would you find 1/3 of 15 dots? (divide the dots into 3 groups and
count how many are in 1 group) Show this using a picture. Ask students to
find a multiplication statement and then a division statement that suits the
model. (3 groups × 5 dots in each group = 15 dots, so 3 × 5 = 15 or 15
divided into 3 groups gives 5 dots in each group, so 15 ÷ 3 = 5)
Explain that to find 1/3 of 15, students just have to find how many are in
one group. ASK: What question is this the answer to? To guide students
if necessary, write 15 3 = 5 and have students write the correct
operation symbol (÷) in the blank.
Have students write division statements to find these:
a) 1 of 9 b) 1 of 10 c) 1 of 15
6 5 4
d) 1 of 12 e) 1 of 12 f) 1 of 12
4 2 3

ANSWERS: a) 9 ÷ 6 = 1.5 b) 10 ÷ 5 = 2 c) 15 ÷ 4 = 3.75
d) 12 ÷ 4 = 3 e) 12 ÷ 2 = 6 f) 12 ÷ 3 = 4
Find any fraction of a whole number using multiplication and division.

ASK: If I know 1/3 of 12 is 4, what is 2/3 of 12? Draw a picture to help
explain that 2/3 of 12 is twice as many as 1/3 of 12. If 1/3 of 12 is 4, there
are 4 in each group, so to find 2/3 of 12, take 2 groups of 4, or 2 × 4 dots.
So 2/3 of 12 is 8.
Have students use multiplication and division to find these fractions of

numbers:
a) 2 of 20 b) 3 of 14 c) 3 of 15 d) 4 of 35 e) 8 of 36
5 7 5 7 9
ANSWERS:
a) 1 of 20 is 20 ÷ 5 = 4, so 2 of 20 is 2 × 4 = 8
5 5
b) 1 of 14 is 14 ÷ 7 = 2, so 3 of 14 is 3 × 2 = 6
7 7
c) 1 of 15 is 15 ÷ 5 = 3, so 3 of 15 is 3 × 3 = 9
5 5
d) 1 of 35 is 35 ÷ 7 = 5, so 4 of 35 is 4 × 5 = 20
7 7
e) 1 of 36 is 36 ÷ 9 = 4, so 8 of 36 is 8 × 4 = 32
9 9
A small fraction of a large number can still be a large number. Have
students place the fraction 1/40 on a number line between 0 and 1.
0 1
Ask students if they think that 1/40 is a small fraction or a large fraction.
Then ASK: If you read that 1/40 of the Canadian population had poor
access to medical services, do you think that would be a lot of people or
only a few? Tell students that Canada has 30 million people. Have students
calculate 1/40 of the Canadian population. (750 000) ASK: Is that a lot of
people or only a few? ASK: What if only 1 out of 40 people in the world had
poor access to clean water? Would that be a lot of people or a little? What
if only 1 out of 1000 people in the world had poor access to clean water?
Would that be a lot of people or a little? Tell students that there are 6 billion
people and have students do the calculations. (1/40 of 6 000 000 000 = 150
000 000 is still a lot of people, even 1/1000 of 6 000 000 000 is 6 000 000
people) Students might be interested in researching what fraction of people
actually have no access to clean water. The actual statistic is more like 1 out
of 5, but the point to be left with here is that people who want to convince
you that a problem isn’t very important might quote what fraction of people
rather than the number of people. Students should be aware of this.

Solving word problems. Tell students that each mathematical word in a
word problem can be replaced by a symbol. ASK: What number or symbol
would you use to replace each of the following: more than [>], is [=], half
[1/2], three-quarters [3/4].
EXTRA PRACTICE for Questions 7–11.
1. Calli’s age is half of Ron’s age. Ron is twelve years old. How old is
Calli? (Calli’s age = half of Ron’s age = 1/2 of 12, so Calli’s age is 6)
2. Mark gave away 3/4 of his 12 stamps. How many stamps did he
give away? (9)
3. How many hours are in 5/8 of a day? (5/8 of 24 = 15)
4. By weight, about 1/5 of a human bone is water and 1/4 is living

tissue. If bone weighs 120 grams, how much of the bone’s weight is
water and how much is tissue?
ANSWER: 1/5 of 120 is 24, so the water weighs 24 grams; 1/4 of 120
is 30, so the tissue weighs 30 grams
5. If Ron studied math for 2/5 of an hour and then history for 1/3 of an
hour, how long did he study for altogether?
ANSWER: 2/5 of 60 is 24 minutes and 1/3 of 60 is 20 minutes, so

altogether he studied for 44 minutes
6. Is 5/8 of one pizza more than, less than, or the same amount as 1/8
of five pizzas?
ANSWER: the same, because both of them are five pieces of size
1/8; whether the five pieces are taken all from the same pizza or one
each from five different pizzas doesn’t matter.
Extension
process expectation a) Find:
Looking for a pattern 1 of 2 1 of 3 1 of 4 1 of 5 1 of 6 1 of 7
2 3 4 5 6 7
Do you see a pattern? Predict 1/384 of 384.
ANSWERS: All answers are 1, because each group consists of one

(2 ÷ 2, 3 ÷ 3, and so on) object and you are always taking one (the
numerator) group.
b) Find:
2 of 3 3 of 5 3 of 9 7 of 15 8 of 11
3 5 5 15 11
process assessment ANSWERS: 2, 3, 8, 7, and 8. In every case, the answer is the numerator
8m1, 8m6, [V] of the fraction because there is one object in each group and the
Workbook Question 6 numerator tells how many groups to take.

NS8-24 Multiplying Fractions by Whole Numbers
Page 36-37
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m25; 8m1, 8m2, Students will multiply fractions with whole numbers and vice versa.
8m3, 8m5, 8m7, 8m19,
8m20
WNCP: 8N6, [R, ME, CN, C]
Can find a fraction of a whole number
Can evaluate expressions involving whole numbers using order of
operations
Vocabulary
variable Multiplication as a short form for addition. See Questions 1–3: present
reciprocal and solve similar problems in the same sequence. Notice that the addition
of fractions involves all identical fractions, and hence like denominators, so
the addition itself is quite simple.
process expectation Investigate a × 1/a. Have students add fractions to find these products:
Looking for a pattern 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
a) 2 × = + b) 4 × = + + +
2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
c) 3 × = + + d) 5 × = + + + +
3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5
ASK: What do you notice about the answers? (They are all improper
fractions equivalent to 1: 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5. Since the number of terms being
added is the same as the denominator, the numerator and denominator of
the product are equal.) Have students predict 57 × 1/57 and explain their
prediction. Write these equations on the board:
1 1 1 1
2× = 1 3× = 1 4× = 1 5× = 1
2 3 4 5
connection ASK: What is the same about all these equations? What is changing? Tell
Algebra students that we can replace a changing number with a letter, which we call
a variable. Have a volunteer come to the board and replace the changing
number with the letter a. For any number 1, 2, 3, 4,..., the equation becomes:
1 a
a× = =1
a a
Introduce the reciprocal. The reciprocal of a whole number is the fraction
with numerator 1 and denominator equal to that whole number. EXAMPLE:
The reciprocal of 17 is 1/17. The product of any whole number with its
reciprocal is 1.
The special case of 0. Note that 0 does not have a reciprocal because 0
cannot be the denominator of a fraction: if you don’t divide the whole into
any parts, it doesn’t make sense to ask how many of those parts you are
taking. You have to divide the whole into at least 1 part. Another way to see
that 0 cannot have a reciprocal is to understand fractions as division: just
as 3/2 = 3 ÷ 2, 1/0 would equal 1 ÷ 0, which doesn’t make sense because
you cannot divide by 0.
Determining the formula for a × b/c. Use an EXAMPLE:
3 3 3 3 3 3 3+3+3+3+3
5× = + + + + =
20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Since all the numerators are the same, we can write the repeated addition
as a multiplication:
3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 5×3
=
20 20
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
ASK: How would you write 7 × = + + + + + +
15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
as a single fraction? ( 7 × 4 )
15
4 a × 4 4a
How would you write a × as a single fraction? ( = )
5 5 5
b a×b
process expectation How would you write a × as a single fraction? ( )
c c
Generalizing from examples
4 2 3 8
a) 2 × b) 3 × c) 7 × d) 2 ×
9 5 5 11
ANSWERS: a) 8 b) 6 c)
21 d)
16
9 5 5 11
Have students practise multiplying a whole number by an improper fraction

using this method.
7 7 7 7 7
EXAMPLE: 4 × = + + +
2 2 2 2 2
7+7+7+7
=
2
4×7
=
2
28
= = 14
2
process expectation Tell students that you want to multiply 10 by 3 3/5. Have students discuss
different strategies:
Selecting tools and strategies
a) Change it into a known problem by converting the mixed number to an
improper fraction.
3 18
EXAMPLE: 10 × 3 = 10 ×
5 5
= 10 × 18 ÷ 5
= 18 × 10 ÷ 5
= 18 × 2
= 36

b) Multiply directly. Explain that since 3 3/5 = 3 + 3/5, we can use the
distributive property.
3 3 3
EXAMPLE: 10 × 3 = 10 × (3 + ) = 10 × 3 + 10 ×
5 5 5
= 30 + 10 × 3 ÷ 5
= 30 + 3 × 10 ÷ 5
= 30 + 3 × 2
= 30 + 6 = 36
What is a × b/a? Challenge students to predict the general answer before

doing Question 6 and then use Question 6 to check their prediction.
“Of” can mean multiply. Discuss situations where the word “of” means
multiply. For example, with whole numbers, 2 groups of 3 means 2 × 3
objects. “Of” can mean multiply with fractions too: 1/2 of 6 means 1/2 of a
group of 6 objects, or 1/2 × 6.
Review finding a fraction of a whole number and then have students use
this to multiply a fraction with a whole number. Have students develop the
general formula:
a a
× c = of c = (a ÷ b ) × c = a × c ÷ b
b b
Multiplying an improper fraction with a whole number. Use the formula

for multiplying a fraction with a whole number.
EXTRA PRACTICE:
a) 7 × 4 b) 8 × 6 c) 11× 8 d) 11×15
2 3 4 3
ANSWERS: a) 7 × 4 ÷ 2 = 28 ÷ 2 (or 7 × 2) = 14
b) 8 × 6 ÷ 3 = 8 × 2 = 16
c) 11 × 8 ÷ 4 = 11 × 2 = 22
d) 11 × 15 ÷ 3 = 11 × 5 = 55
process expectation Discuss which is easier to do mentally: (11 × 15) ÷ 3 or 11 × (15 ÷ 3).
Reflecting on what made the Why? (dividing first is easier because it allows you to work with smaller
problem easy or hard, Mental numbers)
math and estimation Using distance to multiply a mixed number with a whole number. Tell
students that because 1/2 is halfway between 0 and 1, 1/2 × 6 is halfway
between 0 × 6 = 0 and 1 × 6 = 6. So 1/2 × 6 is 3—this is exactly 1/2 of 6,
as we expect.
Challenge students to find 3 1/2 × 6. ASK: 3 1/2 is halfway between which

two whole numbers? (3 and 4) Explain that 3 1/2 × 6 should be halfway
between 3 × 6 and 4 × 6 because 3 1/2 is halfway between 3 and 4. Since
21 is halfway between 18 and 24, 3 1/2 × 6 = 21.
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
3 × 6 4×6

Now tell students that you want to find 3 1/3 × 6. ASK: What two whole
numbers is 3 1/3 between? (3 and 4) Explain that 3 1/3 × 6 should be 1/3 of
the way from 3 × 6 to 4 × 6. Have a volunteer show where 3 1/3 × 6 should
be on the number line above. (at 20)
process assessment Have students estimate the following quantities and then use a number line
8m1, 8m3, 8m6, [ME, V] to check their answers.
1 2 1
a) 4 × 6 b) 2 × 9 c) 3 ×10
3 3 5
Sample answer: a) students should estimate that it is between
4 × 6 = 24 and 5 × 6 = 30 and that the answer will be closer to 24 than 30
because 1/3 is less than half. Students could reasonably estimate either
25 or 26. To find the exact answer, note that 1/3 of the distance from 24 to
30 is 26, so 4 1/3 × 6 = 26.
process expectation Comparing the two methods. Have students change the mixed numbers
Reflecting on other ways to in the problems above to improper fractions and then multiply. Do students
solve a problem get the same answers?
1 7
EXAMPLE: 3 ×6 = ×6
2 2
=7×6÷2
=7×3
= 21
This is exactly what we found when we used the fact that 3 1/2 is halfway
between 3 and 4.
Multiplication of a whole number and a fraction commutes (i.e., order

doesn’t matter). See Investigation 1.
process expectation Multiplying by equivalent fractions results in equivalent answers. After

Communicating students complete Investigation 2, ask them to write several fractions
equivalent to 1/3. Then have them multiply each of these fractions by 5.
ASK: Are all the answers equivalent? (yes) Discuss why this is the case.
process assessment Have students predict whether multiplying whole numbers by equivalent
8m2, [R] fractions will always result in equivalent answers and then check their
prediction for various pairs of equivalent fractions of their choice.
process expectation A strategy for multiplying fractions by fractions. Challenge students to

Problem-solving, Mental math multiply 3 × 2/5 × 1/3 by using what they have learned in this lesson.
and estimation ANSWER: 3 × 2/5 × 1/3 = 2/5 × 3 × 1/3 since 3 × 2/5 = 2/5 × 3. But
3 × 1/3 = 1, so this is 2/5 × 1 = 2/5.
Have students find:

1 3 2 4 3 2
a) 4 × × b) 5 × × c) 10 × ×
5 4 3 5 4 5
ANSWERS: a) 1 × 4 × 3 = 1 × 3 = 3
5 4 5 5

b) 2 × 5 × 4 = 2 × 4 = 8
3 5 3 3

c) 3 ×10 × 2 = 3 × 4 = 3
4 5 4
Word problems:
1. If a penny weighs 2 1/3g, how much will 100 pennies weigh? Express
your answer as a mixed fraction of grams.
1 7 700 1
ANSWER: 2 ×100 = ×100 = = 233 g
3 3 3 3
2. Tina drinks 5/6 of a bottle of water each day. How many bottles of water
does she drink in 7 days?
5 35 5
ANSWER: ×7 = =5 bottles
6 6 6
3. If 1 lane of a swimming pool is 3/8 the length of an Olympic swimming

pool, how many lengths of an Olympic swimming pool does Tina swim if
she swims the lane 5 times?
3 15 7
ANSWER: ×5 = =1 lengths of an Olympic swimming pool
8 8 8
An Olympic swimming pool is 50 m long. How many metres did
Tina swim?
3
ANSWER: 93 or 93.75 m
4
4. a) The formula for converting temperature in degrees Celsius (°C) to

temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) is °F = 9/5°C + 32.
Convert the following temperatures from °C to °F:

ANSWERS:
i) 15°C 59°F
ii) 50°C 122°F
iii) 100°C 212°F
b) The formula for converting temperature in degrees Fahrenheit to

degrees Celsius is °C = (°F - 32) × 5/9.
Convert the following temperatures from °F to °C:

ANSWERS:
i) 32°F 0°C
ii) 86°F 30°C
iii) 77°F 25°C
c) An Olympic swimming pool must be between 25°C and 28°C. What

is that in degrees Fahrenheit? Round your answer to the nearest whole
number.

d) i) A recipe says to preheat the oven to 200°C. Your oven only gives
degrees Fahrenheit. What temperature should you set your
oven to?
ii) The recipe tells you to lower the temperature by 10°C partway
through the baking time. By how many degrees Fahrenheit should
you lower the temperature?
Extensions
1. Using algebraic rules, show how you could change the formula in word
problem 4 b), above, to the formula in 4 a).
2. Find the missing numbers:

1 4 4 ANSWERS:
a) 4 × = 2 b) × = 4
5 5 a) 2
b) 6
3 4 1 c) 13
c) × =5 d) 5× = 4
7 7 6 6 d) 5
e) 5
1
e) 3 × = 2
6 2
connection 3. The force of gravity is different on each body in the solar system (planet,
Science sun, moon, etc.). Your weight depends on which body you’re on. On the
Moon, the gravitational pull is only about 1/6 of what it is on Earth, so if
you weigh 60 kg on Earth, you would only weigh 10 kg on the Moon (but
your mass would still be the same).
Body Sun Mercury Venus Earth Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
Gravitational 19 8 10 1 8 4 23 22 3
pull as a 27 1 2 1
fraction 20 21 11 6 21 11 25 25 22
of Earth’s
gravity

a) Which body’s gravitational pull is closest to that of Earth? (Saturn)
b) List the bodies in order from least gravitational pull to highest

gravitational pull. (Moon, Mars and Mercury, Uranus, Venus, Saturn,
Earth, Neptune, Jupiter, Sun)
c) Scientists have discovered that by raising certain animals from birth

in a lab with higher gravitational pull, the animals become stronger. On
which of the eight planets would an animal growing up on that planet
be the strongest? (Jupiter) The weakest? (Mercury or Mars)
d) Use the choices given beneath each blank to complete the sentence
three times:
A _________________ weighs about 180 kg on _________________.
black rhinoceros (1000 kg) the Sun
sumo wrestler (150 kg) the Moon
baby (6 kg) Neptune
(black rhinoceros/the Moon; baby/the Sun, sumo wrestler/Neptune)

e) You want to move each of the following objects to a location where
they will weigh as close to 30 kg as possible. State where you should
move each object and justify your answer with calculations.
i) a person weighing 75 kg
ii) a bike weighing 12 kg
iii) a bottle of water weighing 1 kg
iv) a motorcycle weighing 200 kg
ANSWERS:
i) Mercury or Mars, because 75 kg × 8/21 ≈ 28.6 kg
ii) Jupiter, because 12 kg × 2 4/11 = 12 kg × 26/11 ≈ 28.4 kg
iii) the Sun, because 1 kg × 27 19/20 = 27 19/20 kg
iv) the Moon, because 200 kg × 1/6 ≈ 33.3 kg

NS8-25 Multiplying Fractions by Fractions
Page 38-39
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m2, 8m7, Students will develop and apply the formula for multiplying fractions
8m18, 8m19 (all types) by other fractions.
WNCP: 8N6, [C, R]
Can multiply fractions by whole numbers

Understands that “of” can mean multiply
Vocabulary
reciprocal
Half of a fraction. Explain to students that just as we can talk about a
fraction of a whole number, we can also talk about a fraction of a fraction.
Demonstrate finding half of 3/5 by dividing an area model of the fraction into
a top half and a bottom half:
3 1 of 3 = 3
5 2 5 10
Have students use this method to find half of these fractions:
a) 2 b) 4 c) 3 d) 2 e) 5 f) 4
9 7 7 5 6 7
Show students another way of dividing the fraction 4/7 in half. Instead
of dividing in half from top to bottom, divide in half from left to right (you
can do this because 4 is even). Notice that the two methods seem to give
different answers:
1 of 4 = 4 1 of 4 = 2
2 7 14 2 7 7
ASK: Are these answers the same? (yes, they are equivalent) Explain that
no matter how you take half of 4/7, the answer should always be the same.
Use the model on the worksheet to find a fraction of a fraction when

both numerators equal 1. See Questions 1 and 2.
The formula for multiplying fractions with numerator 1. Students should

discover this through examples. The general explanation is as follows:
Notice from the arrays shown in Questions 1–3 on the worksheet that there
is always 1 part shaded and the number of parts is:
(the number of rows) × (the number of columns). So to find 1/a × 1/b, draw
an array with b columns and then divide each column into a rows, so there
are a × b parts; the fraction shaded is 1/(a × b).
The formula for multiplying fractions in general. Again, students should

discover this through examples (see Questions 7 and 8 on the worksheet).

In this case, to multiply a/b × c/d, the number of shaded parts is a × c and
the total number of parts is b × d. So:
a c a×c
× =
b d b×d
a) 2 × 3 b) 3 × 4 c) 7 × 12 d) 4 × 3 e) 5 × 6
5 4 8 15 3 5 5 2 3 25
ANSWERS: a) 6 = 3 b) 12 = 1 c) 84 = 28
20 10 120 10 15 5
d) 12 = 6 e) 30 = 2
10 5 75 5
The reciprocal of a fraction. Show students these pairs of fractions and tell
them they are called reciprocals of each other:
3 and 4 2 and 5 3 and 7 5 and 6
4 3 5 2 7 3 6 5
Have students define what it means to be the reciprocal of a fraction. Have
students determine the reciprocal of a/b. (b/a)
process expectation Multiplying reciprocals. After students do Question 11, challenge them to
Communicating explain in their own words why multiplying reciprocals always results
in 1. Sample answer: The order in which the numbers are multiplied doesn’t
affect the product (3 × 4 = 4 × 3), so
3 4 3 × 4 12
× = = = 1.
4 3 4 × 3 12
a b a×b
In general, × = = 1 since a × b = b × a.
b a b×a
Using the result of multiplying reciprocals to estimate products of

fractions. Review comparing fractions by creating equivalent fractions with
the same denominator. Then have students decide which of these fractions
are greater than 3/4:
4 9 8 11 13
a) b) c) d) e)
5 11 11 15 16
ANSWERS: a), b), and e) are greater than 3/4
Now have students use their answers to the previous question to decide
which of these products are greater than 1 without calculating the products:
a) 4 × 4 b) 9 × 4 c) 8 × 4 d) 11 × 4 e) 13 × 4
5 3 11 3 11 3 15 3 16 3
ANSWERS: a), b), and e), because the first fraction is greater than 3/4 and
3/4 × 4/3 = 1
Have students check their answers by directly calculating the products.

process expectation Compare multiplying fractions to adding fractions. Notice that when
multiplying fractions, you can just multiply the numerators together and
Revisiting conjectures that
then multiply the denominators—the resulting fraction is the product! ASK:
were true in one context
Can you do the same when adding fractions—add the numerators together
and add the denominators? Is the resulting fraction the sum? (No! This is
easy to see when adding fractions that have the same denominator, e.g.,
3/11 + 7/11 = (3 + 7)/11, not (3 + 7)/(11 + 11), which would definitely
give the wrong answer.) As another example, the formula for multiplying
fractions would give 2/5 + 5/3 = 7/8, but 5/3 is more than 1 so you can’t
add to it and get a number less than 1!
Explain to students that people who know how to multiply fractions

often make more mistakes when adding fractions than people who don’t
because people who know how to multiply fractions try to apply the
same principle to adding fractions. (NOTE: This is called interference
because the new knowledge is interfering with old knowledge. Another
example of interference occurs when grade 3 students who have learned
multiplications make the mistake of writing 3 + 2 = 6. A grade 1 student
would be much less likely to make that mistake than a grade 3 student.)
Explain to students that they have to be careful not to let their new
knowledge of multiplying fractions interfere with their old knowledge of
adding fractions. Just because the formula works in one context, doesn’t
mean it works in all contexts.
Extensions
1. Adding reciprocals. Have students tell you which fractions are less than 1:
a) 3 b) 4 c) 7 d) 8 e) 11 f) 48 g) 51
5 5 5 11 8 51 48
ASK: How can you tell from a and b if a/b is less than 1? (if a < b, then
a/b is less than 1; if a > b, then a/b is more than 1) If a/b is less than 1,
what can you say about b/a? (if a/b is less than 1, then a is less than b
and b is more than a, so b/a > 1)
Write 9/10 on the board, and ask students to tell you what whole number
this is close to. (1) ASK: Is it more than 1 or less than 1? (less) What is its
reciprocal? (10/9) Is 10/9 more than 1 or less than 1? (more than 1) Have
students estimate 9/10 + 10/9. What whole number will it be closest to?
(1 + 1 = 2) Have students predict whether the sum will be more or less
than 2, then do the calculation to check.
9 10 181 1 is more than 2
+ = =2
10 9 90 90
Tell students that you want to know how the sum a/b + b/a compares
to 2. Suppose that a < b. Then a/b is less than 1 and b/a is more than 1.
So we expect a/b + b/a to be sometimes more than 2 and sometimes
less than 2.

process expectation Explain that you want a way to estimate whether a/b + b/a will be more or
Looking for a similar problem less than 2, and that you find it easier to look at simpler problems that are
for ideas similar.
Show students the following problem: Predict whether 59/100 + 42/100 is

more or less than 1.
ASK: How is this problem similar to predicting whether 9/10 + 10/9 is

more or less than 2? (it asks about the sum of two fractions and how
it compares to a given whole number) How is it different? (instead of
reciprocal fractions it uses fractions with the same denominator) Is
calculating this sum easier or harder than calculating 9/10 + 10/9?
(easier) Explain that you chose the problem because it is easier.
Now show students the following problem: Predict whether 59 + 42 is

more or less than 100.
ASK: How is this problem similar to the problem with 59/100 + 42/100? Is
it easier or harder?
ASK: How do you know that 59 + 42 is close to 100 without actually

doing the calculation? (59 is close to 60 and 42 is close to 40, so 59 + 42
is close to 60 + 40 = 100) How do you know that 59 + 42 will be more
than 100 without actually doing the calculation? (because 42 is more than
40 by more than 59 is less than 60, so 59 + 42 will be more than 40 + 60
= 100)
Then revisit the original problem: 9/10 + 10/9. ASK: By how much is
9/10 less than 1? (1/10) By how much is 10/9 more than 1? (1/9) Which
is greater: 1/10 or 1/9? (1/9) Explain that since the number that is more
than 1 is greater than 1 by more than the other number is less than 1, you
expect the sum of the two numbers to be more than 2. ASK: Is that what
we found? (yes, 9/10 + 10/9 was 2 1/90)
Emphasize that you used the method that you knew for a similar problem
with whole numbers and applied it to this problem with fractions.
BLM Adding Reciprocals allows students to discover the somewhat

surprising result that a/b + b/a is always more than 2!
2. These are the ingredients Anna needs to make 12 muffins:

3
1 cups flour 7 tablespoons butter
4

1 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder
2

1 teaspoon salt 1 egg
4

1 cup milk 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1 teaspoons cinnamon
3
a) Anna has an 8-muffin tray. What fraction of the ingredients should she
use? (2/3, because 8 is 2/3 of 12)
b) Anna needs to use a whole egg. Her egg has a volume of about 3/8
of a cup. How much extra liquid does this create in her muffin mix? (She
should use only 2/3 of an egg, and 2/3 of 3/8 = 2/8 = 1/4 of a cup, but
she used 3/8 of a cup, so she has 1/8 cup extra liquid.)
c) Anna needs to reduce the milk by the amount of extra egg she used,
to keep the total volume of liquid ingredients the same. How much milk
should she use? (She should use 2/3 - 1/8 = 13/24 of a cup, or just
more than 1/2 a cup.)
d) Write the complete list of ingredients that Anna should use to make
8 muffins.
ANSWER:
1 13 1
1 cup flour cup milk 1 teaspoons of
6
3 baking powder
24
1 cup sugar 8 teaspoon cinnamon 1 egg
3 9
2 1
1 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoons brown
6
3 3 sugar

NS8-26 Dividing Fractions by Whole Numbers
Page 40-41
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m3, 8m6, Students will use models to divide fractions by whole numbers and will
8m7, 8m18, 8m19, 8m20 develop the formula for this type of division through examples.
WNCP: 8N6, [V, R, ME, C]
Can divide whole numbers by whole numbers

Can name fractions of models when parts shown are unequal
Introduce dividing fractions by whole numbers. Explain that just as we

can divide whole numbers by whole numbers, we can divide fractions by
whole numbers too.
To divide 6 into 3 parts, draw 6 dots and make 3 groups. There are 2 in
each group, so 6 ÷ 3 = 2.
ASK: How would you divide 1/2 into 5 parts? Tell students that you have half
a pizza and you want to share it among 5 people. How much would each
person get? Have students draw a model to show this.
Sample answer:
If you divide the other half of the pizza in pieces the same size, then we can
see that each person gets 1/10 of a pizza.
So 1/2 ÷ 5 = 1/10.
Have a volunteer divide the grey half of this square into 3 equal parts:
ASK: What fraction of the whole square is each of the 3 parts? How do you
know? Divide the white half of the square the same way as the grey half:
or

Using the worksheet model to divide fractions by whole numbers.
Demonstrate dividing 1/2 into 3 parts using the model on the worksheet, as
in Question 1a). Write the corresponding division sentence: 1/2 ÷ 3 = 1/6.
process assessment Have volunteers use the same model to divide 1/2 into 4 parts, then into 7
parts, and write the corresponding division sentences.
8m1, 8m6, [V]
ANSWERS: 1/2 ÷ 4 = 1/8 and 1/2 ÷ 7 = 1/14

process assessment Have students divide more fractions with numerator 1 by whole numbers.
8m1, 8m6, [V] EXAMPLES: 1 ÷ 3
1 1 1
÷5 ÷2 ÷2
5 3 5 3
Using examples to develop the formula. Have students finish the formula:
1 1
÷b=
a
1 1
ANSWER: ÷b=
a a×b
Have students use the formula to find:

1 1 1 1 1 1
a) ÷ 9 b) ÷ 8 c) ÷ 6 d) ÷ 3 e) ÷ 8 f) ÷ 7
5 7 6 10 4 6
ANSWERS: a) 1 b) 1 c) 1 d) 1 e) 1 f) 1
45 56 36 30 32 42
Divide fractions with any numerator by a whole number. Tell

students that you want to divide 2/3 by 5. Draw a rectangle and shade
two-thirds of it (see margin).
Divide the shaded thirds into 5 equal parts and cross-shade 1 part in each
third. Note that this can be done in at least 2 ways:
or
In each case, 2 of the 10 equal parts are cross-shaded. To find out what
fraction of the whole is cross-shaded, divide the remaining third of the
rectangle into parts the same size as well:
or

Since 2/15 of the whole is cross-shaded, 2/3 ÷ 5 = 2/15.

3 7 4
a) ÷7 b) ÷5 c) ÷7
5 2 3
20 5 8 20
d) ÷ e) ÷4 f) ÷5
4 4 3 17
ANSWERS: a) 3 b) 7 c) 9
35 10 20
d)
20 5 e) 8 = 2 f) 20 = 4
÷
4 4 12 3 85 17
process expectation Have students check their answers by multiplying.
Reflecting on the 3 21 3
EXAMPLE: In a), ×7 = = , which is what we started with.
reasonableness of an answer 35 35 5
The formula for dividing a fraction by a whole number. Have students
complete the formula:
a/b ÷ c = ? . ANSWER: a/(b × c). Students should then check their formula
for examples that they make up. Students could also check the formula by
multiplying:
a a×c a a a
×c = = So indeed: ÷c =
b×c b×c b b b×c
Show students some examples where the whole number divisor divides
evenly into the numerator of the dividend. Ask students if they can find an
easy way to divide a fraction by a whole number when the whole number
divides evenly into the numerator. ANSWER: Divide the numerator by the
whole number and keep the denominator the same, for example:
20/17 ÷ 5 = (20 ÷ 5)/17 = 4/17. You could explain this method as follows:
You are dividing 20 seventeenths into 5 parts. How many seventeenths are
in each part? (4) So the answer is 4 seventeenths, as indicated.
Dividing mixed numbers by whole numbers. ASK: What is 3 1/2 ÷ 5?

Suggest students look at their answers from the Extra practice for Question
8. Which question has the same answer as this one? (7/2 ÷ 5) How do you
know? (because 7/2 = 3 1/2)
process expectation Have students divide more mixed numbers by whole numbers using
Changing into a known a strategy they already know: change the mixed number to an improper
problem fraction.
13 13 1 1
EXAMPLES: ÷3= 10 ÷3 9 ÷7
5 15 2 3
13 13 21 21 7 28 28 4
ANSWERS: ÷3= ÷3= = ÷7= =
5 15 2 6 2 3 21 3
Checking the reasonableness of the answer. Have students calculate
5 1/2 ÷ 3 (= 11/2 ÷ 3 = 11/6 = 1 5/6). ASK: What multiples of 3 is 5 1/2

process expectation between? (3 × 1 and 3 × 2) So 5 1/2 ÷ 3 should be between 1 and 2. Is it?
Reflecting on the (yes, 1 5/6 is between 1 and 2) ASK: Is 5 1/2 closer to 3 × 1 or 3 × 2? A lot
reasonableness of an answer, closer or a little closer? Will 5 1/2 ÷ 3 be closer to 1 or 2? A lot closer or a
Mental math and estimation little closer? Does this match the answer you calculated?
Using the distributive property to divide mixed numbers by whole

numbers. Remind students that 5 1/2 = 5 + 1/2, so to find 5 1/2 ÷ 3, we
can use the distributive property:
1 1
5 ÷ 3 = (5 + ) ÷ 3
2 2
1
=5÷3+ ÷3
2
5 1
= +
3 6
11 5
= =1
6 6
Have students solve the same division problems they did above by
converting mixed numbers to improper fractions, this time by using the
distributive properties. Students can check their own work by ensuring that
they get the same answer both ways.
process expectation Relationship between dividing by a whole number and multiplying by its
Connecting reciprocal. Use dividing by 3 and multiplying by 1/3 to illustrate the general
relationship. Notice that dividing 6 into 3 parts is the same as taking 1/3 of
6. Recall that “1/3 of 6” = 1/3 × 6, and this product is obtained by dividing 6
objects into 3 groups: 1/3 × 6 = 6 ÷ 3 = 2. Similarly, if you divide 1/2 into 3
equal parts, each part has size 1/3 of 1/2, so 1/2 ÷ 3 = 1/3 × 1/2.
Extensions
1. If a 1500 m race takes 2 1/4 laps of a track, how many laps would a 500
m race take? (3/4 laps)
1 1
2. a) How does ÷ b compare to ÷ a ? Why?
a b
Hint: Put values for a and b into the two expressions and evaluate them.
What do you notice? Why is this the case?
ANSWER: If, for example, a = 3 and b = 4, then 1 ÷ 4 = 1

=
1
1 1 1 3 (3 × 4) 12
and ÷3= = .
4 (4 × 3) 12

Since 4 × 3 = 3 × 4, the two quotients are equal. In general, since
a × b = b × a, the two quotients will always be equal.
a a
b) How does ÷ c compare to ÷ b ? Why?
b c
ANSWER: The first one is equal to a/(b × c) and the second one is equal
to a/(c × b). Since b × c = c × b, these are the same.

NS8-27 Dividing Whole Numbers by Fractions
Page 42-44
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 7m18; 8m1, 8m5, Students will develop the formula for dividing whole numbers by
8m7, 8m19 fractions through examples.
WNCP: [CN, R, C]
Understands division as “fitting into”
Dividing whole numbers by fractions with numerator 1. Teach this as in

Questions 1 and 2.

1 1 1
a) 7 ÷ b) 8 ÷ c) 9 ÷
3 5 6
1 1 1
d) 8 ÷ e) 10 ÷ f) 14 ÷
8 17 5
ANSWERS: a) 21 b) 40 c) 54 d) 64 e) 170 f) 70
How does a ÷ 1/b compare to b ÷ 1/a? Encourage students to

investigate this by substituting various values for a and b. Students could
use a 4-column chart with headings a, b, a ÷ 1/b, and b ÷ 1/a to record
their answers.
Since a ÷ 1/b = a × b and b ÷ 1/a = b × a, students will see that these

always have the same answer for any values of a and b.
Dividing whole numbers by fractions with any numerator. Teach this as

in Questions 3–5.

4 3 2
a) 20 ÷ b) 24 ÷ c) 18 ÷
5 2 3
2 5
d) 18 ÷ e) 10 ÷
3 2
ANSWERS: a) 25 b) 16 c) 25 d) 27 e) 4
Do Investigation 1 on the worksheet together as a class. Be sure to discuss

why we should expect dividing by equivalent fractions to give equivalent
process expectation answers (you are dividing by the same amount) Then discuss why this
Connecting happens according to the formula:
When you divide by 1/3, you multiply by 3 and divide by 1. To divide by 2/6,
you multiply by 6 and divide by 2. But 3 ÷ 1 = (3 × 2) ÷ (1 × 2) = 6 ÷ 2.
process assessment Since equivalent fractions are obtained by multiplying the numerator and
[8m1, 8m7, R, C] denominator by the same number, and multiplying both terms by the same
Workbook Investigation 2 number doesn’t change the answer to a division question, the answer will
always be the same for any pair of equivalent fractions.

Extension
Carene emptied her piggy bank that only holds pennies. The contents
weigh about 1 kg 300 g in total. If each penny weights 2 1/3 g, about
how much money was in the piggy bank? Round your answer to the
nearest half dollar.
ANSWER:
1 7
1300 ÷ 2 = 1300 ÷ = 1300 × 3 ÷ 7 ≈ 557 pennies = $5.57,
3 3
so there is about $5.50

NS8-28 Operations with Fractions
Page 45
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m3, 8m7, Students will apply the order of operations to solve expressions that
essential for 8m20 include fractions (but no division of fractions by fractions).
WNCP: 8N6, [ME, C]
Can use order of operations with whole numbers

Can add, subtract, and multiply fractions with fractions
Vocabulary
Can divide whole numbers by fractions and fractions by whole numbers
order of operations
Review order of operations with whole numbers. Write a problem such

as 3 + 5 × 4. ASK: Should I add first or multiply first? (multiply first) How
do you know? (because multiplication comes before addition in the order of
operations) What if I need to do the adding first? How do I have to change
the expression to make that clear? (add brackets: (3 + 5) × 4)
Review order of operations when there are both multiplication and

division in the same expression. Use an example such as 4 ÷ 2 + 3
× (5 + 2). First do all operations in brackets (4 ÷ 2 + 3 × 7) then do
multiplication and division from left to right (2 + 21 = 23).
Similarly, addition and subtraction are done from left to right, unless
brackets tell us otherwise. For example: 12 - 7 + 3 = 5 + 3 = 8, but
12 - (7 + 3) = 12 - 10 = 2.
Practice: ANSWERS:
a) (8 - 3) × (4 + 2) ÷ 10 3
b) 12 ÷ (2 + 1) - 6 ÷ 3 2
c) 20 - (5 + 3 × 4) + 6 9
Include expressions with a fractional term. EXAMPLES:

2 2 2
a) ( + 1) × 4 b) + (1× 4) c) 8 ÷ ( ÷ 4)
3 3 3
2 4
d) 8 ÷ ÷4 e) 6 ÷ ( × 2 - 1)
3 5
ANSWERS:
5 20 2 2 2 2 1
a) ×4 = =6 b) +4=4 c) 8 ÷ = 8 ÷ = 48
3 3 3 3 3 12 6
24 8 3
d) ÷ 4 = 12 ÷ 4 = 3 e) 6 ÷ ( - 1) = 6 ÷ = 6 × 5 ÷ 3 = 10
2 5 5
Include expressions with more than one fractional term. EXAMPLES:

3 4 3 4 3 4 3 4
a) + ×5 b) ( + )× 5 c) ( + 5) × d) + 5×
2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3

e) 4 2 3 f) 4 2 3 g) 11 2 1 h) 11 2 1
- × -( × ) -( + ) - +
5 3 4 5 3 4 12 3 4 12 3 4
ANSWERS:
1 1
a) 8 b) 14 c) 8 2 d) 8 1
6 6 3 6
e) 3 f) 3 g) 0 h) 1
10 10 2
process assessment Discuss which questions above have the same answers and why.
ANSWERS:
[ME], 8m3
• a) and d) have the same answer because 4/3 × 5 = 5 × 4/3; order
doesn’t matter when we multiply.
• e) and f) have the same answer because multiplication is done before

subtraction even when there are no brackets, so the brackets in f) are not
necessary.
ASK: How can you tell without calculating that g) and h) don’t have the
same answer? Hint: Compare them both to 11/12 - 2/3. (The answer to
part g is less than 11/12 - 2/3 because you are subtracting more than 2/3
from 11/12, whereas the answer to l) is more than 11/12 - 2/3 because
process expectation you are adding 1/4 to it.) Some students might find this easier to see if
Looking at a simpler problem you replace the fractions with whole numbers: How can you tell without
for ideas calculating that 8 – (3 + 2) and 8 – 3 + 2 have different answers by
comparing them both to 8 – 3? (The first expression is less than 8 – 3
because you are subtracting more than 3 from 8, whereas the second
expression is more than 8 – 3 because you are adding 2 to it.)

NS8-29 Dividing Fractions by Fractions
PageS 46-48
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m3, 8m5, Students will divide fractions by fractions (including mixed numbers
8m7, 8m19, 8m20 and improper fractions) concretely, pictorially, and symbolically.
WNCP: 8N6, [R, CN, C]

Can draw models of fractions
Review dividing a whole number by a fraction. ASK: What is 2 ÷ 1/3?

How many pieces of size 1/3 fit into 2 wholes? (3 pieces fit into 1 whole, so
2 × 3 pieces fit into 2 wholes and 2 ÷ 1/3 = 6)
Introduce dividing fractions by fractions with like denominators.

ASK: What is 2/3 ÷ 1/3? How many pieces of size 1/3 fit into a piece of
size 2/3? (2)
Have students draw a model for 8/3 and then decide how many pieces of
process expectation size 2/3 fit into it. ASK: If you wanted to give everyone 2/3 of a square, how
Modelling many people could you give pieces to? (4) So 8/3 ÷ 2/3 = 4.
Give these two to the fourth person.
Have students draw models to solve these problems:
a) 9 ÷ 3 b) 15 ÷ 3 c) 9 ÷ 3
5 5 4 4 4 4
d) 16 ÷ 8 e)
8 2 f)
9 3
÷ ÷
3 3 5 5 2 2
ANSWERS: a) 3 b) 5 c) 3 d) 2 e) 4 f) 3
Explain that when the fractions have the same denominator, you are talking
about the same object in both cases. For example, to find 9 fifths divided
by 3 fifths, you are asking how many groups of 3 fifths fit into a group of 9
fifths. This isn’t all that different from asking how many groups of 3 apples fit

into a group of 9 apples, or how many strings of length 3 m fit into a string
of length 9 m, or how many groups of 3 people can be made from a group
of 9 people. The fact that the objects are “fifths” doesn’t matter – the answer
is still the same.
Have students use a model to illustrate these division problems:
a) 20 ÷ 5 b) 20 ÷ 5 c) 20 ÷ 5 d) 20 ÷ 5
2 2 3 3 4 4
(The answer is always 4, because 5 pieces—no matter what size they
are—will always fit into 20 pieces of the same size the same number of
times: 4.)
Review the fact that when dividing, multiplying both terms by the same
whole number results in the same answer. EXAMPLE:
2 groups of 3 is 6 6÷2=3
4 groups of 3 is 12 12 ÷ 4 = 3
6 groups of 3 is 18 18 ÷ 6 = 3
Multiplying the number of groups and the total number of dots by the same
number doesn’t change the number in each group.
6 ÷ 2 = 3 (6 × 2) ÷ (2 × 2) = 3 (6 × 3) ÷ (2 × 3) = 3
Number of groups
Total number
So to divide 20/3 by 5/3, we can multiply both terms by 3:

20 5 20 5
÷ = ( × 3) ÷ ( × 3)
3 3 3 3
= 20 ÷ 5
= 4
Dividing fractions by fractions with like denominators when the answer

is a fraction. ASK: How is 8/5 ÷ 3/5 different from problems we have just
done? (the second numerator doesn’t divide evenly into the first) How is it
similar to problems we have just done? (the denominators are the same)
Have students multiply both terms by 5. Will they get the same answer?
Does 8/5 ÷ 3/5 have the same answer as 8 ÷ 3? Have students draw
models to solve both a) 8 ÷ 3 and b) 8/5 ÷ 3/5, and then compare the
process expectation answers.
Connecting a)

How many groups of 3 can we make? (more than 2, but less than 3) In fact,
we are 2/3 of the way from 2 groups to 3 groups. So the number of groups
is 2 2/3.
process expectation b) Draw a model of 8/5, then decide how many pieces of size 3/5 fit into it.
Modelling 2 of 3
3 5
or
3 3 8 3 2 8
So ÷ = 2 = = 8÷3
5 5 5 5 3 3
8 3 8 3
So indeed, ÷ = ( × 5) ÷ ( × 5) = 8 ÷ 3 .
5 5 5 5
Have students divide many more fractions by fractions with like

denominators. EXAMPLES:
a) 7 ÷ 2 = so 7 ÷ 2 = b) 13 ÷ 5 = so 13 ÷ 5 =
3 3 3 3

c) 9 ÷ 4 = so 9 ÷ 4 = d) 15 ÷ 4 = so 15 ÷ 4 =
5 5 5 5
e) 11 ÷ 5 = f) 11 ÷ 5 = g) 21 ÷ 5 =
2 2 3 3 6 6
Have students draw models to show how many 1/8-sized pieces of pizza
would be contained in…
1 11 7
a) 1 pizzas b) pizzas c) pizzas
8 8 4
1 1
d) 3 pizzas e) 2 pizzas f) 5 pizzas
2 4
ANSWERS: a) 9 b) 11 c) 14 d) 28 e) 18 f) 40
ASK: How are problems c) – f) different from problems a) and b)? (the
fractions being divided have different denominators)
Dividing fractions by fractions with unlike denominators. Show students

the following problem: 3/4 ÷ 1/5. ASK: How can we change it to a problem
like the ones we already know how to do? (find equivalent fractions for each
that have the same denominator) Have students do this. (15/20 ÷ 4/20 = 15
÷ 4 = 15/4 = 3 3/4)
Have students practice dividing more such fractions by finding equivalent

fractions with like denominators.
EXAMPLES: a)
8 2 b) 5 ÷ 2 c)
3 1
÷ ÷
3 5 4 7 5 3

40 6 20 2
SAMPLE SOLUTION: a) ÷ = 40 ÷ 6 = =6
15 15 3 3
35 3 9 4
ANSWERS: b) =4 c) =1
8 8 5 5
Once students are comfortable with dividing fractions that have unlike
denominators, tell students that there is a shortcut for dividing fractions by
fractions: turn the second fraction upside down and multiply!
For example, look at 3/4 ÷ 2/5. Using the product of the denominators as
the common denominator, this becomes:
3×5 4×2 3×5 3 5
÷ = (3 × 5) ÷ (4 × 2) = = ×
4×5 4×5 4×2 4 2
So instead of dividing 3/4 by 2/5, we can multiply 3/4 by 5/2.
Have students use the same method to show why 5/8 ÷ 3/7 has the same
answer as 5/8 × 7/3.
ASK: Does 3 ÷ 1/2 have the same answer as 3 × (the reciprocal of 1/2)?
Explain why this answer makes sense. (yes; 1/2 fits into 1 twice, so it fits
into 3 six times)
process expectation Another way of showing that a/b ÷ c/d = a/b × d/c. Use the example
Reflecting on other ways to above: 3/4 ÷ 2/5. Remind students that multiplying both terms by the same
solve a problem number doesn’t change the answer. Explain that if we pick the second
number in a really clever way, the answer will just pop out at us. Write:
3 2 3 2
÷ = ( × _____ ) ÷ ( × _____ )
4 5 4 5
Explain that no matter what number is put in the blanks, as long as it’s
the same number in both blanks, both sides of the equation are the same.
process expectation By choosing the right fraction, we can make an easier problem with the
Changing into a known same answer.
problem Explain that turning one of the fractions upside down, called taking the
reciprocal, is the solution. If we put 5/2 in both blanks, we get:
But 2/5 × 5/2 = 1, and dividing by 1 leaves any number unchanged, so

3 2 3 5 3 5
÷ = ( × ) ÷ 1= ×
4 5 4 2 4 2
Discuss how this is really just like finding an equivalent ratio:
3 2 3 5 2 5 3 5
: = × : × = × :1
4 5 4 2 5 2 4 2
Have students use this method to show that 2/3 ÷ 4/5 has the same answer
as 2/3 × 5/4.
process expectation Discuss why it is more useful to use improper fractions than mixed numbers
Selecting tools and strategies for dividing fractions by fractions. (It is easier to find the reciprocal of an
improper fraction than of a mixed number.)

process expectation Comparing two methods of dividing fractions. Have students divide
4/3 ÷ 1/2 in two ways.
Selecting tools and
strategies, Reflecting on other i) Multiply both terms by 6 so that both terms because whole numbers.
ways to solve a problem (8 ÷ 3 = 8/3)
ii) Invert and multiply. (4/3 × 2 = 8/3)
Discuss: Did you get the same answer both ways? Was one way easier?
Which method do you like better?
ACTIVITY
process assessment Give each student a string of length 1 1/2 m. Tell them to cut it into
8m7, [C], Workbook pieces of length 1/4 m. How many pieces do they have? (6) What
Question 13 division statement does this show? (1 1/2 ÷ 1/4 = 6) Now change the
lengths in fractions of metres to whole numbers of centimetres. Write
the new division statement. (150 ÷ 25 = 6)
Extensions
1. Evaluate:
1 1 1 1
1- 2- 3- 4-
a) 2 b) 2 c) 2 d) 2
1 1 1 1
1+ 2+ 3+ 4+
2 2 2 2
ANSWERS: a)
1 b) 3 c) 5 d) 7
3 5 7 9
connection 2. Look at your answers to Extension 1. Look for patterns in the numerators
and denominators.
Patterns
1
1750 -
Predict: 2
1
1750 +
2
ANSWER: The pattern in the numerators is 2n - 1 and the pattern in the
denominators is 2n + 1, so
1
n−
2 = 2n − 1 and so the answer should be 2(1750) - 1 = 3499 .
1 2n + 1 2(1750) + 1 3501
n+
2
3. Evaluate:
1 1 1 1
3- 3- 3- 3-
a) 2 b) 3 c) 4 d) 5
1 1 1 1
3+ 3+ 3+ 3+
2 3 4 5

1
3-
Predict: 120
1
3+
120
ANSWERS: a)
5 b) 8 c) 11 d) 14
7 10 13 16
1
3−
In general, n = 3n − 1 so the prediction should be 359 .
1 3n + 1 361
3+
n
4. Which is greater:
2 4 or 2 4 ?
× ÷
3 5 3 5
ANSWER: 2/3 ÷ 4/5 since it gives the same answer as multiplying 2/3
by 5/4. This will be more than 2/3 since 5/4 is more than 1 whole. On the
other hand, 4/5 is less than one whole so 2/3 × 4/5 will be less than 2/3.
Students can also check directly: 2/3 × 4/5 = 8/15 and 2/3 ÷ 4/5 =
2/3 × 5/4 = 10/12 = 5/6, which is greater than 8/15.
5. Which of the following are equal to 3 ÷ 11 ? Circle all correct answers.

4 7
a) 3 ÷ 7 b) 3 ÷ 7 c) 3 ÷ 4 d) 7 ÷ 3
4 11 11 4 11 7 11 4
e) 7 ÷ 4 f) 7 ÷ 11 g) 4 ÷ 11
11 3 4 3 7 3
ANSWERS: c), e), f)
process expectation 6. You can multiply fractions by multiplying the numerators and then
Selecting tools and strategies multiplying the denominators. Can you divide fractions by dividing the
numerators and then dividing the denominators? Try it on:
a) 9 ÷ 3 b) 15 ÷ 3 c) 81 ÷ 9
8 4 4 2 35 7
Compare the answers you get using this method to the answers you get
by multiplying the reciprocal. Do you always get the right answer using
this method? (yes)
Would you use this method to solve 81/35 ÷ 7/9? Why or why not?
(It would be very inconvenient because you would first have to find
equivalent fractions so that the denominator divides evenly into the
denominator and the numerator divides evenly into the numerator.)

NS8-30 Estimating Quotients of Fractions
Page 49
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m6, 8m7, Students will estimate the quotient of two given positive fractions
8m18, 8m19, 8m20 to the nearest whole number and use their estimate to check the
WNCP: 8N6, [ME, R, V, C] reasonableness of an answer.

Vocabulary
Can model fractions
estimate
Can convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and vice versa
Can compare and order fractions
Drawing accurate models for fractions. Teach students how to accurately

draw a model for 5/8. First, draw four bars of different lengths, and have
two volunteers estimate where 1/8 is on two of the bars and another two
volunteers estimate where 1/2 is on the other two bars. Ask students to
predict which estimates will be closer to the actual measurement—the
estimates for 1/8 or the estimates for 1/2—then make the measurements
to find out. The estimates for 1/2 are likely to be better. Now tell students
to estimate on a different bar 1/2, then 1/4, then 1/8. Have students predict
whether these will be more accurate estimates, then measure to check.
(Because students are making the different estimates on the same bar, they
can use the estimate for one quantity to help estimate the next, and then
the third, so estimates should be more accurate.)
process expectation Have students sketch 3/4 on one bar, then 1/3 on another bar, then 5/6 on a
Mental math and estimation third bar. Students might sketch 5/6 in two ways:
1) by dividing halves into three parts
2) by dividing thirds into two parts
Challenge students to sketch 2/9. They should first divide a bar into three
parts to make thirds, then divide the thirds into three parts to make ninths.
process expectation Estimating the quotient of two fractions by using a picture. Tell students
Modelling that you want to estimate 5/8 ÷ 2/9 to the nearest whole number. ASK: How
many times do you think a strip of length 2/9 would fit into a strip of length
5/8? Sketch the two strips, one above the other, as follows:
2 2 2 2
1× 2× 3× 4×
9 9 9 9
ASK: Which product is closest to 5/8: 1 × 2/9, 2 × 2/9, 3 × 2/9, or 4 × 2/9?
(3 × 2/9)

Which whole number is 5/8 ÷ 2/9 closest to? (3) Have students check by
calculating the quotient directly:
5 2 5 9 45 13
÷ = × = =2
8 9 8 2 16 16
The result, 2 13/16, is closer to 3 than to 2, since 13/16 is more than 1/2.
process assessment Follow Steps 1–4 on the worksheet to draw the strips for fractions using
8m1, [PS, ME] a ruler.
Workbook Question 4
Extension
process expectation a) Without using a picture, explain why 5 ÷ 2 > 5 ÷ 2 .
8 9 8 8
Mental math and estimation,
Using logical reasoning ANSWER: Imagine a stick of length 5/8. Since 2/9 < 2/8, more pieces of
size 2/9 will fit into the stick than pieces of size 2/8.
b) Without using a picture, explain why

5 2 6 2 .
÷ < ÷
8 9 9 9
ANSWER: First noe that 5/8 < 6/9 because 1 - 5/8 = 3/8 is greater than
1 - 6/9 = 3/9. Now imagine two sticks, one of length 5/8 and the other of
length 6/9. The stick of length 6/9 is longer than the stick of length 5/8 and
more pieces of size 2/9 will fit into the longer stick than the shorter stick.
c) Find the nearest whole number to 5 ÷ 2 .

8 9
ANSWER: From a), we know that 5/8 ÷ 2/9 > 5/8 ÷ 2/8 = 5 ÷ 2 = 2 1/2.
From b), we know that 5/8 ÷ 2/9 < 6/9 ÷ 2/9 = 6 ÷ 2 = 3. So 5/8 ÷ 2/9 is
between 2 1/2 and 3 and the nearest whole number to it is 3.
d) Without using a picture, find the nearest whole number to
i) 5 ÷ 2 ii) 11 ÷ 3
6 5 5 4
ANSWERS:
5 2 5 2 1 5 2 4 2
i) Since ÷ < ÷ = 5 ÷ 2 = 2 and ÷ > ÷ = 4 ÷ 2 = 2 ,
6 5 6 6 2 6 5 5 5
the quotient is more than 2 but less than 2 1/2. So the nearest whole
number is 2.
11 3 11 4 3
ii) Since ÷ > ÷ = 11 ÷ 4 = 2
5 4 5 5 4
and
11 3 10 3 1
÷ < ÷ = 10 ÷ 3 = 3 , the quotient is between 2 3/4 and
5 4 4 4 3
3 1/3 and the nearest whole number is 3.

NS8-31 Word Problems
NS8-32 Word Problems — Advanced
Pages 50-52
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m2, 8m3, Students will solve problems that require comparing, adding,
8m7, 8m19, 8m20 subtracting, multiplying, and dividing simple fractions.
WNCP: 8N6, [PS, R, C]
Can add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions (including mixed

numbers and improper fractions)
Can compare and order fractions (including mixed numbers and
improper fractions)
process expectation If students have difficulty deciding which operation to use when they are
solving a word problem, they might find it helpful to replace the fractions
Solving a simpler problem
with whole numbers and ask the same question. Replace the fractions in
first
NS8-31 Question 11 as follows:
Rosa bought 6 kg of dry lasagne and each person needs 2 kg. How many
people can she feed?
Explain that you replaced 4/5 with a larger number than the one you used to
replace 2/35. ASK: Why does that make sense? (because 4/5 is larger than
2/35) ASK: What if I replace “dry lasagne” with “rice” or “beans”—does this
change the question? (No, because it doesn’t matter what Rosa buys; all
that matters is that she needs 6 kg of it.)
process assessment ASK: What is the answer to the new question? (3) What expression did you
8m3 calculate to find it? (6 ÷ 2) What expression should you calculate to solve
Workbook p.51 Question 3 Question 11? (4/5 ÷ 2/35) How did finding a simpler problem help, even
though the simpler problem didn’t have the same answer? (the simpler
problem had the same form, which allowed us to decide which expression
to calculate)
process assessment EXTRA PRACTICE:

[PS, R, C] 1. A recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups of flour. You have only a 1/3 cup
Workbook p.51 Question 5 measuring spoon. How many spoonfuls of flour should you use?
(5 1/4 spoonfuls)
2. A recipe calls for 3/4 cup of flour. Satya has 4 1/2 cups of flour. How
many times can he make the same recipe? (6 times)
3. There are 3 1/3 pizzas left over from a party. Each piece is 1/6 of a
pizza. How many pieces are left? (20 pieces)
4. For each question, write a multiplication or division statement and

then solve each problem:
a) John plants a flower in 2 minutes. How long does it take him to
plant 30 flowers? (30 × 2 = 60 minutes)

b) Ray plants a flower in 1 2/3 minutes. How long does it take him to
plant 30 flowers?
2 5
( 30 × 1 = 30 × = 50 minutes)
3 3
How are the two questions above the same? How are they different?
(They are asking the same thing, but with different numbers. One uses
whole numbers and the other uses a mixed number. The one using whole
numbers is easier to think about and can be useful to help solve the
problem with a mixed number.)
5. If 1 serving of pasta is 2/3 cup, how many servings is 1/2 cup?

(1/2 ÷ 2/3 = 1/2 × 3/2 = 3/4, so 1/2 cup is 3/4 of a serving)
Number Sense 8- 103

NS8-33 Concepts in Fractions
Pages 53-54
Curriculum Goals
Expectations
Ontario: 8m1, 8m2, 8m5, Students will apply the order of operations to solve problems that
8m18, 8m19, 8m20 require comparing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
WNCP: 8N6, [CN, ME, fractions.
PS, C]
Can use order of operations to evaluate expressions involving

whole numbers and fractions
Vocabulary
Can add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions (including mixed
cancel
numbers and improper fractions)
Can compare and order fractions (including mixed numbers and
improper fractions)
process assessment Now that students are familiar with order of operations and with dividing
[CN, 8m5] fractions by fractions, have students evaluate these expressions.
Workbook Question 8 a) 4 × 3 ÷ 2 b) 4 × ( 3 ÷ 2 ) c) 4 ÷ ( 2 × 3 ) d) 4 ÷ 2 × 3
5 4 3 5 4 3 5 3 4 5 3 4
process assessment 9 9 8 3 9
Answers: a) b) c) =1 d)
[ME] 10 10 5 5 10
Workbook Question 7
Notice that a), b) and d) have the same answer because the same numbers
are being multiplied and divided in each case.
Extension
a) Multiply:
1 1
i) (1- )(1- )
2 3
1 1 1
ii) (1- )(1- )(1- )
2 3 4
1 1 1 1
iii) (1- )(1- )(1- )(1- )
2 3 4 5
1 1 1 1 1
process expectation b) Predict: (1- )(1- )(1- )(1- )...(1- )=?
2 3 4 5 57
Looking for a pattern
ANSWERS:
1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4
a) Notice that 1- = , 1- = , 1- = and 1- = so
2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5
i) 1 × 2 = 1 ii) 1 × 2 × 3 = 1 iii) 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 = 1
2 3 3 2 3 4 4 2 3 4 5 5
b) 1
57

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NS8-1 Factors and Multiples

Knows the times tables

EXTRA PRACTICE: for Questions 7, 8: Find all pairs of numbers that

ASK: What is larger: 8 × 6 or 9 × 7? How do you know? Emphasize that

Number Sense 8-1 1

When the number is equal to another number multiplied by itself (i.e.,

EXTRA PRACTICE: Find all pairs of numbers that multiply to

2 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

Vocabulary PRIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED

Listing factors to find the greatest common factor.

Investigating the GCF of two consecutive numbers.

process Expectation Bonus

Number Sense 8-2 3

a) 396 and 400 (ANSWER: Since the GCF must divide 4

b) 398 and 402 (ANSWER: Since the GCF must divide 4

c) 372 and 377 (GCF is 1 or 5; GCF = 1)

d) 291 and 293 (GCF is 1 or 2; GCF = 1)

e) 31 755 and 31 780 (GCF is 1, 5, or 25; GCF is 5)

4 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

Investigating the special case where a is a factor of b. See part E of

Some numbers for a, b, and c that students can use to investigate

Students will find that there is no relationship involving just these

a × b × c × GCF(a, b, c) = LCM(a, b, c) × GCF(a, b) × GCF(a, c) ×

Number Sense 8-2 5

a b c GCF(a, b, c) GCF(a, b) GCF(a, c) GCF(b, c) LCM(a, b, c)

and then a chart with these headings:

using the same numbers for a, b, and c as above.

The reason this relationship exists is well beyond the grade 8

Suppose that the prime factorization of a includes A copies of p.

And suppose that A < B < C.

How many copies of p are in the prime factorization of

How many copies of p are in the prime factorization of

So p occurs the same number of times in the prime factorization of each

6 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

Can divide 2-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers

Tell your students that the numbers from 1 to 10 can be classified

Number Sense 8-3 7

NOTE: Mathematicians do not include 0 as a composite number. In order

Deciding if a number greater than 1 is prime or composite. Have students

Since 15 × 3 = 45, if 16 × something = 45, then that something has to be

8 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

SAMPLE ANSWER: i) The smallest factor of 75 greater than 1 is 3, so the

But we know that 2 is not a factor because we checked, so the next

Eratosthenes’ Sieve for finding prime numbers up to 30

Start by using a very tedious method. ASK: Is 1 prime? (no, so cross it

Number Sense 8-3 9

10 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

Encourage students to use the hundreds chart from Question 11 to answer

process Expectation Some mathematicians study codes in order to send messages in

who wants to read the message has to multiply 13 and 17 to break

A mathematician wants to make codes from numbers that have exactly

a) 46 (2 × 23) b) 299 (13 × 23)

Number Sense 8-3 11

To build a message that is hard to break, would you use numbers

connection To fully understand Eratosthenes’ Sieve, students need to understand

To get the ones-digit-pattern for 3s, write an endless list:

12 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

Number Sense 8-3 13

Introduce prime factorizations. Write on the board 20 = 10 × 2 and

Find prime factorizations using factor trees. See Questions 1-3.

14 Teacher’s Guide for Workbook 8

Students will assemble small rectangles into a single larger rectangle.

Students can draw rectangles with the dimensions given on cm grid