Now that we know how to multiply fractions, it only takes one additional step to divide them. Let's look at what the steps are to divide fractions.

The first step is to set up the division problem. Next, you perform a process called skip-dot-flip to rewrite the division problem as a multiplication problem. Then you cross-cancel the common factors between the numerators and denominators, then perform the multiplication and simplify the result. Let's look at these steps in action.

We start by setting up our division problem. As an example, let's do two fifths divided by three tenths. Now we use skip-dot-flip. Skip-dot-flip tells us what to do to each part of this expression as we move from left to right. This first fraction, we just skip over. We don't do anything there. The division symbol we change to a multiplication dot, like this. And the last step is to flip the second fraction, like this, so the numerator and denominator swap places.

Now this division problem is rewritten as a much simpler multiplication problem. With multiplication, our first step is to cross-cancel. Two and three don't have any common factors, but five and ten do. They have a common factor of 5. Five divided by five is 1, and ten divided by five is 2.

Now we just have to multiply these fractions out. Looking at the numerators first, two times two gives us a numerator of four, and one times three gives us a denominator of three. Our last step is to make sure that this fraction is in its simplest form. Since four and three have no common factors, this fraction is in its simplest form.

Now let's head over to the whiteboard to look at a few more examples.

This first example reads what is the quotient of 11 thirds and 2 thirds. Well, let's begin by setting up this division problem. That's going to be 11 over 3 divided by 2 over 3. We use skip dot flip to rewrite this division problem as a multiplication problem. We skip the first fraction, meaning we leave it the exact same. Dot means we change this division symbol to a multiplication dot, and flip means we flip this second fraction so it becomes 3 over 2.

11 and two don't have any common factors, but three and three, of course, have a common factor of three, so 3 divided by 3 leaves us 1 here, and 3 divided by 3 leaves us 1 here. Now we just multiply across. 11 times 1 gives us a numerator of 11, and one times 2 gives us a denominator of two. So the quotient of 11 thirds and 2 thirds is 11 halves. Let's look at another example.

This one reads divide the fraction 3 fourths by 4. So let's begin by setting up this division problem. That is 3 over 4 divided by 4. And then we write 4 as a fraction, which is 4 over 1. Now we use skip dot flip to rewrite this as a multiplication problem. We skip the first fraction, leaving it the same. We change the division symbol to a multiplication dot, and we flip the second fraction so it becomes one over 4. Three and four don't have any common factors, and neither do four and one, so we can just multiply across: 3 times 1 is 3, and 4 times 4 is 16. And since 3 and 16 don't have any common factors, this is our final answer. Three fourths divided by 4 is 3 sixteenths.

Alright, let's look at one more example. This question reads zookeepers staff a local zoo for 18 hours each day in order to care for all the animals. If each zookeeper works a shift that is 9 halves hours in length, how many shifts are there each day?

Well, what we're doing here is we're dividing the number of hours, 18, into groups of nine halves, so this will be 18, which we can write at 18 over 1, divided by 9 halves.

Now we use skip dot flip to rewrite this expression, so we skip the first one, leaving it the same. We change the division symbol to a multiplication dot, and we flip the second fraction so that becomes two over 9.

One and two don't have any common factors, but 18 and 9 have a common factor of 9. So 18 divided by 9 is 2, and 9 divided by 9 is 1. Now we can multiply across. Two times 2 is 4, and 1 times 1 is 1, so we have 4 over one which we know is just 4. So our answer is there are four zookeepers each day.