How can different fractions name the same amount?

Answer 1

Imagine placing a penny on a table in front of you and another penny an arm's length away. There are two pennies in total and one of them is close to you. One out of two pennies (half the pennies) is written 1/2

Do the same thing with two more pennies. Now there are four pennies and two of them are close to you. Two out of four is written 2/4

But it's still half of the total number of pennies.

As long as the ratio between the numerator and denominator is the same, in this case the numerator is half the denominator, the values are equivalent.

1/2 = 2/4