Max Maths, Year 6, Practice, Fractions in their simplest form

In a practical application of fractions for Year 6 students, a scenario is presented involving a set of cutlery comprising forks, spoons, and knives. The total number of these items combined is 28. The task for the students is to express the quantity of each type of cutlery—spoons, knives, and forks—as fractions of the entire set. The challenge is to provide answers in the simplest form, which means reducing each fraction to its lowest terms where the numerator and denominator share no common factors other than one.

For example, if there are 10 spoons in the set, the fraction representing spoons would initially be 10/28. Students are then expected to simplify this fraction by dividing both the numerator and the denominator by their greatest common divisor. In this case, the simplest form of the fraction for spoons would be 5/14. The same process is to be applied for the knives and forks, ensuring that the final fractions given are the smallest possible representations. To support their learning and practice, students are directed to workbook (WB) pages 147 to 149, where they can find more exercises and examples related to simplifying fractions.