Fractions of a Number

In a cozy cottage of Eureka Shores, Liam, Maya, and Zoey gathered around a table, deep into their favorite board game. Giggles and cheers filled the room as they rolled dice and moved their game pieces through magical lands filled with friendly creatures and sparkly gems.

Maya, the strategy expert, and Zoey, the adventurer, were giving Liam a run for his game money. The board was a burst of colors, and the gems sparkled like treasures waiting to be discovered. Lost in the fun, they didn't notice the sun dipping low outside.

As their game reached a thrilling point, Liam looked at the gems with a serious face. "We need to grab one-fifth of these gems for the potion," he announced, setting the stage for a whole new level of adventure beyond their board game.

Zoey frowned, “Uh, how do we do that again?”

Liam grinned, “Well we have 20 gems. Should I explain the Quest to Find ⅕ of 20?”

Everyone around the table nodded their heads. They knew they needed to understand this to get the potion proportions perfectly right. Liam began to read from his scroll, explaining the quest.

“First step: Understand the Fraction. In our tale, we seek one part out of five. It's like dividing the treasure chest into five equal portions."

That seemed to make sense. After all, ⅕ meant one part out of five parts.

"Next step: multiply. Now, multiply the fraction, (1/5), by the total number of gems (20). When we multiply a fraction by a number, we only multiply the numerator. This is VERY important! Remember, the numerator is the top number. So for ⅕, the numerator is one, and we would multiply one times twenty. That’s just equal to 20!”

This was easier than the group had expected! They knew the most important thing for them to remember was that you only multiply the numerator, so they said it in their heads a couple times to remember the idea.

“Final step: simplify! After multiplying, our fraction is 20/5. This is just an easy division! 20/5 is equal to 4, which means that ⅕ of 20 is 4!”

Maya, the math enthusiast, excitedly added, "It's as if we've uncovered a magical fraction, revealing the portion of the treasure chest that belongs to the 1/5 kingdom!"

The group came up with a few other similar problems as the game progressed:

3/4 of 16: "In another magical realm, we need 3/4 of a treasure chest containing 16 gems. Multiplying 3/4 by 16, we get 48/4. That is equal to 12, which means we find 12 gems, revealing the fraction of this treasure!"

2/3 of 15: "Venturing into yet another adventure, we need 2/3 of a treasure chest with 15 gems. Remember, only multiply the numerator! So we multiply 2 times 15, which is equal to 30. Then, we divide by the denominator, which is 3. 30 divided by 3 is 10, so the result is 10 gems."

Thanks to fractions, the group was able to successfully complete their quest in the board game. It made for an evening full of gems and fun!