Question

Which sign makes the following statement true?
1/4 _____ 5/16

Answer 1

2. <

Explanation:

To compare these two fractions we can first find them a common denominator. A common denominator between 4 and 16 is 16.

To get from 16 from 4 we multiply by 4 so we do the same to the numerator, changing 1/4 to 4/16.

5/16 already has a denominator of 16 so we can leave that one as is.

4/16___5/16

In this form it is obvious that 5/16 is the larger fraction because 5 is larger than 4, meaning that 5/16 is larger than 1/4.