What is meant by simplifying a fraction?
Understanding the answer to this particular question can open up a number of road blocks you might be having towards learning the fraction concepts. To explain this to you I will take a very simple example. I am sure that will put things into perspective. There is a cake kept in a plate on your dining table. You know you cannot eat the entire cake because some of your friends are joining you for small party. But then you feel hungry and are unable to resist the temptation. You pray to God to tell you what fraction of the cake is yours to eat. You know God listens and the good child that you are; he answers your question; albeit with a twist. You can have 19/36th parts of the cake he says. With that hunger you are certainly not in a mood to divide the cake into 36 parts and then eat 19 of them. What is that you want? A simplified answer did I hear you say. Thats 1/4th of the cake for you. This is the power of simplifying fractions. As humans we are tuned to see simpler things in a frien
