Skip to content
Brainsladder

Identify the Whole in Fraction Word Problems

Students learn to identify what the 'whole' refers to in a fraction word problem and verify that fractions in the same problem refer to the same whole before adding or subtracting. Students practice reading problems critically for contextual meaning.

Try three of them

Real questions from this skill, graded here. No account, and nothing is saved.

Identify the Whole in Fraction Word Problems

Grade 5 · Fraction Addition and Subtraction Word Problems · question 1 of 3

0 of 20

20 rungs. A star at the top.

Kai eats 1/8 of a pie and Mia eats 3/8 of that same pie. How much of the pie did they eat together?

How it is taught

0:00 of 3:07

The whole is the entire amount a fraction is part of.

Fractions in one problem must refer to that same whole.

Read it: Find the whole from a part

5/7 of a ribbon is 35 inches. The ribbon is 7 equal parts, and 5 of them make 35 inches.

  1. Name the whole: the ribbon, cut into 7 equal parts.
  2. Find one part: share 35 inches among the 5 shaded parts.
  3. Find the whole: one part times all 7 parts.

A fraction always tells you a part of some whole.

The shaded parts are equal, so sharing their amount gives one part.

The whole is every part, shaded or not, so multiply one part by the number of parts.

Divide the part's amount by the top number, then multiply by the bottom number.

Answering 35 inches, the part, or multiplying 35 by 7.

35 inches is only 5 of the 7 parts. Find one part first, then take all 7 of them.

4/11 of a fence is 44 feet. How long is the whole fence? — 121. One part: 44 ÷ 4 = 11. The whole: 11 × 11 = 121.

Maya ate 1/4 + Jake ate 2/4 of the same pizza

Here's a story problem. Maya ate one-fourth of a pizza, and Jake ate two-fourths of the same pizza. How much pizza is left?

First, find the whole. The whole is one pizza, split into four equal slices.

Maya ate one slice. That's one-fourth of the whole pizza.

How much pizza is left?Maya ate 14. Jake ate 24 of the same pizza.The WHOLE = 1 pizza (4 equal slices)Maya14of the pizzaMaya: 14Jake: 24of the same pizza✓ Same whole = same pizzaNow we can add the fractions!(If the pizzas were different sizes, we couldn't.)14 + 24 = 34three-fourths of the pizza eaten44 − 34 = 14whole pizza minus what they ateAlways ask: same whole?LEFT14of the pizza
Grade 5 · Same whole means we can add the fractions

Jake ate two more slices. That's two-fourths of the same pizza.

Both fractions describe the SAME pizza. Same whole — so we can add them safely.

Together they ate one-fourth plus two-fourths, which is three-fourths.

The whole pizza is four-fourths. Four-fourths minus three-fourths leaves one-fourth.

One-fourth of the pizza is left. The key was checking that both fractions described the same whole!

What you see

While they climb, your page writes one true line to ask about tonight, and a short note each Sunday.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics
Did you know?

A chessboard has 64 squares — share them out between the 8 rows and each row holds exactly 8.

Today’s goal
1 star — one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed
Climbing now
Divide within 100

An example student.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Maya earned 2 stars this week — Interpret multiplication as equal groups, which took 6 answers over 3 days before its star landed 3 days ago and Multiply by 6, 7, 8 and 9. Next up: Divide within 100.

An example week.

More of the library

Every skill has a page

Practise this skill free

14 days of every skill, practice packets, Fluency sheets and up to four students. No card.

Start free