How do you compare two fractions?

Answer 1

Three main ways:

• Convert them to equivalent fractions with the same denominator. Then smaller numerator = smaller fraction.
• Convert them to equivalent fractions with the same numerator. Then smaller denominator = larger fraction (this is useful for comparing reciprocals of integers, since the numerators are already all 1).
• Convert to decimals. This is essentially converting to a common denominator (bullet 1) that may be a large power of ten.