Same numerator

In your book, Maths Mela (Chapter 2), two children talk about the parathas they ate yesterday evening. One says, 'I ate 4/6 paratha.' The other says, 'I ate 4/5 paratha.' Both ate 4 pieces. Did they eat the same amount?

No! Look at the size of the pieces. One paratha was cut into 6 equal pieces, and the other, of the same size, into 5 equal pieces. When the same paratha is cut into MORE pieces, each piece is SMALLER. So a 1/6 piece is smaller than a 1/5 piece.

Both children ate 4 pieces, but 4 small pieces are less than 4 bigger pieces. So 4/6 < 4/5: the child who ate 4/5 ate more.

The top number of a fraction is called the numerator; it tells how many pieces we have. When two fractions have the same numerator, we have the same number of pieces, so we compare the SIZE of the pieces. The bigger the denominator, the smaller each piece, so the smaller the fraction. 3/8 < 3/7, because eighths are smaller than sevenths. And 4/9 > 4/10, because ninths are bigger than tenths.