Understanding Fractions: Why 1/2 Equals 0.5 for 9-Year-Olds

Hi there! Let’s understand why 1/2 equals 0.5 step by step.

First, what is a fraction? A fraction tells us how many parts of a whole we have. In this case, the fraction 1/2 means we have 1 part out of 2 equal parts.

Imagine you have a pizza. If you cut the pizza into 2 equal slices and you take 1 slice, you have 1 out of 2 slices. This is where the fraction 1/2 comes from!

Now, let’s see what 0.5 means. The number 0.5 is a decimal. Decimals can also represent parts of a whole, just like fractions. To understand this, think of it like this:

• If you have 1 whole pizza and you want to divide it into 10 equal parts, each part is 0.1 of the pizza (because 1 divided by 10 equals 0.1).
• If you have 2 equal parts (like in 1/2), each part is 0.5 of the pizza because 1 divided by 2 equals 0.5.

So, when we say 1/2, it means one part from two equal parts, and that also equals 0.5 when you look at it in decimal form!

In summary, 1/2 is the same as 0.5. Isn’t that cool?