Goal:
Goal:
Using models to represent division can give you a better idea of what is happening in your problem; the models give us a picture of the division. Let’s take a closer look at how to create a model of a division expression.
Let's think about the fraction \(\mathsf{ \frac{3}{2} }\), which is the same as the division expression 3 ÷ 2. What would the model of this problem look like? First we draw a model of 3 items, as shown below.
We'll use squares to start:
If we want to divide the 3 squares equally into 2 parts,
what would that look like?
How much would be in each part?
Draw your own picture, then click the Answer button to
see how it compares.
You can see that if you divide 3 by 2, you will have
\(\mathsf{ 1\frac{1}{2} }\) in each group. So, \(\mathsf{3
\div 2 = 1\frac{1}{2} }\).