Which fraction 1/4 or 2/7 is bigger?

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Answer 1 · 2016-12-12T10:32:49

#2/7>1/4#

We can do this a couple of different ways.

The first is to do the division:

#1/4=0.25#
#2/7~=0.29#

And so we know that #2/7# is greater than #1/4#

We can also do it this way:

#1/4, 2/7#

#1/4xx(1), 2/7xx(1)#

#1/4xx(7/7), 2/7xx(4/4)#

#7/28, 8/28#

so we can see that #8/28 > 7/28#, which means that #2/7>1/4#

Answer 2 · 2016-12-14T20:21:28

So #2/7# is greater

One way to test this to make the bottom numbers the same and then compare the top numbers.

Note that #4xx7=28# so 28 is exactly divisible by each of 4 and 7

#color(green)([1/4color(red)(xx1)] " compered to "[2/7color(red)(xx1)] )#

#color(green)([1/4color(red)(xx7/7)] " compered to "[2/7color(red)(xx4/4)] )#

#" "color(green)([7/28] " compered to "[8/28] )#

So #2/7# is greater

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#color(red)("For mathematical reasons it is much better to say greater rather than say bigger.")#