Is 5/2 greater than 7/4?
To compare two fractions, such as 5/2 and 7/4, 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
- Multiply the numerator of the first fraction with the denominator of the second fraction: 5 × 4 = 20
- Multiply the numerator of the second fraction with the denominator of the first fraction 7 × 2 = 14
- Multiply the denominators of both fractions together: 2 × 4 = 8
- Rewrite both fractions with the new common denominator:
- 5/2 = 20/8
- 7/4 = 14/8
With a common denominator, the comparison becomes much simpler.
Since 20 is larger than 14, we can conclude that 5/2 is greater than 7/4.
2) Converting to decimal
We can also simply convert the fractions into decimal values:
- 5 divided by 2 is equal to 2.5
- 7 divided by 4 is equal to 1.75
Since 2.5 is larger than 1.75, it means that 5/2 is greater than 7/4.