Welcome to
Double Churches’
MATH TRAIL
Math
Trail Station # 9
Check that you have
everything you need for this station:
pencil - grid paper - ruler - calculator -
metric tape - chalk - colored pencils
MATH TRAIL
# 9
At this station you will
be working with fractions. A fraction is a symbol that represents the equal
parts of something compared to the whole of something. Fractions were first developed as a math
concept by the early Egyptians. Later
Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer, developed
a better way of comparing the parts and the whole. Finally, the Hindus took Ptolemy’s ideas and created the number-bar-number, 1/2, the notation that we use today. We call the top number, the number that
represents how many equal parts we
have, the numerator. We call the bottom
number, or the number that represents the number of equal parts that it takes to make the whole, the
denominator. In 1/2 we know that we
have one part of something that is divided into two equal parts. In fractions, all parts are equal amounts.
Think of a pizza. If it is cut down
the middle and 1/2 is pepperoni and 1/2 is sausage, then we have two equal
parts of one whole pizza.
YOUR TASK:
Flags of many nations can
be divided into equal fractional parts
using the individual colors of the
flags to represent the numerators and the total number of colors to represent
the denominator. For example, the
French flag is red, white and blue. 
Can you see that there are three colors that
make up the whole flag? Each color in
the flag is one-third (1/3) of the
whole flag. We could say that the whole
flag is 1/3 red + 1/3 blue + 1/3 white or 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 3/3 = 1 whole
French flag. In adding fractions the
denominator must always be the same
because it represents how many equal parts it takes to make the whole. On the next page are flags of five countries:
Thailand, Colombia, Mali, Chile and Poland. Using the colored chalk and a ruler draw the flags on the steps and color them according to the pictures
given. On your graph paper use colored
pencils to draw the flags and label the fractional parts of each flag. Remember to divide each flag into equal
parts and use the number of parts to identify the denominator. Under each flag, on the steps and on your
paper, write a math sentence to explain the proportion of the colors used in
each flag. Remember that the colors, although separated on the flag, should be
considered as one color when grouped by color.
The denominator will be the total number of colors used in the flag, not
the number of sections.
Thailand 
Chile
Columbia 
Mali
Poland