Is 1/2 greater than 5/8?

To compare two fractions, such as 1/2 and 5/8, there are two main common methods: the first one involves finding a common denominator, and the other one is to convert the fractions directly into decimal values.

1) Using the same denominator

  1. Multiply the numerator of the first fraction with the denominator of the second fraction: 1 × 8 = 8
  2. Multiply the numerator of the second fraction with the denominator of the first fraction 5 × 2 = 10
  3. Multiply the denominators of both fractions together: 2 × 8 = 16
  4. Rewrite both fractions with the new common denominator:
    • 1/2 = 8/16
    • 5/8 = 10/16

With a common denominator, the comparison becomes much simpler.

Since 8 is smaller than 10, we can conclude that 1/2 is less than 5/8.

2) Converting to decimal

We can also simply convert the fractions into decimal values:

  1. 1 divided by 2 is equal to 0.5
  2. 5 divided by 8 is equal to 0.625

Since 0.5 is smaller than 0.625, it means that 1/2 is less than 5/8.