• School Mathematics
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.13-28
• /
• 2007

Division of fractions can be categorized as measurement division, partitive or sharing division, the inverse of multiplication, and the inverse of Cartesian product. Division algorithm for fractions has been interpreted with manipulative aids or models mainly in the contexts of measurement division and partitive division. On the contrary, there are few interpretations for the context of the inverse of a Cartesian product. In this paper the significance and the limits of existing interpretations of division of fractions in the context of the inverse of a Cartesian product were discussed. And some new easier interpretations of division algorithm in the context of a Cartesian product are developed. The problem to determine the length of a rectangle where the area and the width of it are known can be solved by various approaches: making the width of a rectangle be equal to one, making the width of a rectangle be equal to some natural number, making the area of a rectangle be equal to 1. These approaches may help students to understand the meaning of division of fractions and the meaning of the inverse of the divisor. These approaches make the inverse of a Cartesian product have many merits as an introductory context of division algorithm for fractions.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.91-110
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study is to explore visual models for deriving the fractional division algorithm, to see how students understand this integrated model, the rectangular partition model, when taught in elementary school classrooms, and how they structure relationships between fractional division situations. The conclusions obtained through this study are as follows. First, in order to remind the reason for multiplying the reciprocal of the divisor or the meaning of the reciprocal, it is necessary to explain the calculation process by interpreting the fraction division formula as the context of a measurement division or the context of the determination of a unit rate. Second, the rectangular partition model can complement the detour or inappropriate parts that appear in the existing model when interpreting the fraction division formula as the context of a measurement division, and can be said to be an appropriate model for deriving the standard algorithm from the problem of the context of the inverse of a Cartesian product. Third, in the context the inverse of a Cartesian product, the rectangular partition model can naturally reveal the calculation process in the context of a measurement division and the context of the determination of a unit rate, and can show why one division formula can have two interpretations, so it can be used as an integrated model.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.385-403
• /
• 2018

Fraction division can be categorized as partitive division, measurement division, and the inverse of a Cartesian product. In the contexts of quotitive division and the inverse of a Cartesian product, the multiply-by-the-reciprocal algorithm is drawn well out. In this study, I analyze the potential and significance of the method of using $1{\div}$(divisor) as an alternative way of developing the multiply-by-the-reciprocal algorithm in the context of quotitive division. The method of using $1{\div}$(divisor) in quotitive division has the following advantages. First, by this method we can draw the multiply-by-the-reciprocal algorithm keeping connection with the context of quotitive division. Second, as in other contexts, this method focuses on the multiplicative relationship between the divisor and 1. Third, as in other contexts, this method investigates the multiplicative relationship between the divisor and 1 by two kinds of reasoning that use either ${\frac{1}{the\;denominator\;of\;the\;divisor}}$ or the numerator of the divisor as a stepping stone. These advantages indicates the potential of this method in understanding the multiply-by-the-reciprocal algorithm as the common structure of fraction division. This method is based on the dual meaning of a fraction as a quantity and the composition of times which the current elementary mathematics textbook does not focus on. It is necessary to pay attention to how to form this basis when developing teaching materials for fraction division.

• East Asian mathematical journal
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.565-587
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study was to analyze the understanding of the meaning of fraction division and fraction division algorithm of elementary mathematical gifted students through the process of problem posing and solving activities. For this goal, students were asked to pose more than two real-world problems with respect to the fraction division of ${\frac{3}{4}}{\div}{\frac{2}{3}}$, and to explain the validity of the operation ${\frac{3}{4}}{\div}{\frac{2}{3}}={\frac{3}{4}}{\times}{\frac{3}{2}}$ in the process of solving the posed problems. As the results, although the gifted students posed more word problems in the 'inverse of multiplication' and 'inverse of a cartesian product' situations compared to the general students and pre-service elementary teachers in the previous researches, most of them also preferred to understanding the meaning of fractional division in the 'measurement division' situation. Handling the fractional division by converting it into the division of natural numbers through reduction to a common denominator in the 'measurement division', they showed the poor understanding of the meaning of multiplication by the reciprocal of divisor in the fraction division algorithm. So we suggest following: First, instruction on fraction division based on various problem situations is necessary. Second, eliciting fractional division algorithm in partitive division situation is strongly recommended for helping students understand the meaning of the reciprocal of divisor. Third, it is necessary to incorporate real-world problem posing tasks into elementary mathematics classroom for fostering mathematical creativity as well as problem solving ability.

• The Mathematical Education
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.519-543
• /
• 2008

The study has been conducted with 29 children from 4th to 6th grades to realize how they understand addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers, and how their understanding influences solving of one-step word problems. Children's understanding of operations was categorized into "adding" and "combination" for additions, "taking away" and "comparison" for subtractions, "equal groups," "rectangular arrange," "ratio," and "Cartesian product" for multiplications, and "sharing," "measuring," "comparison," "ratio," "multiplicative inverse," and "repeated subtraction" for divisions. Overall, additions were mostly understood additions as "adding"(86.2%), subtractions as "taking away"(86.2%), multiplications as "equal groups"(100%), and divisions as "sharing"(82.8%). This result consisted with the Fischbein's intuitive models except for additions. Most children tended to solve the word problems based on their conceptual structure of the four arithmetic operations. Even though their conceptual structure of arithmetic operations helps to better solve problems, this tendency resulted in wrong solutions when problem situations were not related to their conceptual structure. Children in the same category of understanding for each operations showed some common features while solving the word problems. As children's understanding of operations significantly influences their solutions to word problems, they needs to be exposed to many different problem situations of the four arithmetic operations. Furthermore, the focus of teaching needs to be the meaning of each operations rather than computational algorithm.

• School Mathematics
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.103-121
• /
• 2005

This article compares and analyzes mathematics textbooks of North Korea, South Korea, China and Japan and draws meaningful ways for introducing the division algorithm of fractions. The analysis is based on the five contexts: 'measurement division', 'determination of a unit rate', 'reduction of the quantities in the same measure', 'division as the inverse of multiplication or Cartesian product', 'analogy with multiplication algorithm of fractions'. The main focus of the analysis is what context is used to introduce the algorithm and how much it can appeal to students. This analysis supports that there is a few differences of introducing methods the division algorithm of fractions among those countries and more meaningful way can be considered than ours. It finally suggests that we teach the algorithm in a way which can have students easily see the reason of multiplying the reciprocal of a divisor when they divide with fractions. For this, we need to teach the meaning of a reciprocal of fraction and consider to use the context of determination of a unit rate.