Draw as many rectangles as the whole number you are multiplying by. Then, draw the fraction you are multiplying by in all of the rectangles. Shade in the top number in the fraction [numerator] in your rectangles. Count all the shaded in parts of all your rectangles. Leave the bottom number of your fraction [denominator] the same and put the number you got when you added the shaded parts of the rectangles on top as your denominator of the fraction. That is your answer!
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No, you cannot use models to multiply fractions!!
Fractions aren't really difficult, once you understand them. Mainly, you have to memorize when to use which operation, so that you don't get adding and multiplying fractions confused, for example.
You may not literally say "multiplied by a half" but multiplying and dividing by fractions are equivalents to doing the other function with an inverse number, most easily in that dividing by 2 is the same as multiplying by (1/2). We don't often multiply and divide by fractions because most of the time we can convert such a problem into a nicer one. We may use fractions like this, for example, in a test out of 90 marks where one must score 2/3 to pass. This pass mark is obtained by multiplying 90 by (2/3), though this, as said earlier, would usually, even unconsciously with such convenient numbers, be split into "divide by 3, then multiply by 2".
Photographers use that in their everyday lives because they have to make sure that the frame is correctly made and the picture is correctly cut.
To add fractions, you have to find their common denominator by multiplying the two denominators together and one of the numerators to the others. Then you add just the top numbers together.