Fractions of amounts (harder) · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Fractions of amounts: the two-step trick

Mathematics · Fractions · ages 8-9
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. What is 3/5 of 20?

    • 4
    • 10
    • 12
    • 15

  2. Find 3/5 of 20.

    • 4
    • 12
    • 15

  3. To find 3/8 of 24, you divide 24 by 8 first, then multiply by 3.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. To find 2/3 of a number, what do you do first?

    • Divide by 2
    • Divide by 3
    • Multiply by 3

  5. A farmer has 30 sheep. 2/5 of them are lambs. How many lambs are there?

    Answer: ______________

  6. What is 5/6 of 42?

    • 30
    • 35
    • 36
    • 7

  7. A bag has 24 sweets. 3/8 of them are red. How many red sweets are there?

    Answer: ______________

  8. Calculate 2/3 of 18.

    • 6
    • 12
    • 36

  9. Ben found 3/4 of 28 by working out 28 x 3 = 84... then he said the answer was 112. What went wrong?

    • Divide 28 by 4 first, then multiply by 3
    • Divide 28 by 3 first, then multiply by 4
    • Nothing, his answer of 112 is correct

  10. A school trip has 40 pupils. 5/8 of them brought a packed lunch. How many pupils brought a packed lunch?

    Answer: ______________

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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Fractions of amounts: the two-step trick W1-mt_3y7xKP9MjU-s1

  1. 12 · 3/5 of 20 means split 20 into 5 equal parts and take 3 of them. That gives 12.
  2. 12 · 20 divided by 5 is 4, then 4 times 3 is 12. That's 3/5 of 20.
  3. True · That's the two-step method: divide by the bottom number, then multiply by the top number.
  4. Divide by 3 · The bottom number, 3, tells you how many equal groups to split into. Divide by that first, not by the top number.
  5. 12 · 30 divided by 5 is 6, then 6 times 2 is 12 lambs.
  6. 35 · Split 42 into 6 equal parts of 7, then take 5 parts. 5 times 7 is 35.
  7. 9 · Split 24 into 8 equal parts to get 3 in each part, then take 3 parts to get 9 red sweets.
  8. 12 · 18 divided by 3 is 6, then 6 times 2 is 12. Stopping after the division, or multiplying without dividing, both give the wrong answer.
  9. Divide 28 by 4 first, then multiply by 3 · Ben multiplied by the top number but never divided by the bottom number first. The correct way: 28 divided by 4 is 7, then 7 times 3 is 21.
  10. 25 · 40 divided by 8 is 5, then 5 times 5 is 25 pupils.
Worksheet · LightMySky