Divisibility Tricks: A Helpful Tool for Fractions

Divisibility Tricks: A Helpful Tool for Fractions

Divisibility tricks are a helpful tool for working with fractions. They allow you to quickly determine if a number is divisible by another number without having to perform long division. This can be useful for simplifying fractions and understanding the relationships between numbers.

What are divisibility tricks?

Divisibility tricks are shortcuts that tell you if a number is divisible by another number without having to perform long division. For example, you know that a number is divisible by 2 if the last digit is even. You also know that a number is divisible by 5 if the last digit is a 0 or a 5.

How can divisibility tricks help with fractions?

Divisibility tricks can help you simplify fractions. For example, if you have the fraction 12/16, you can use the divisibility trick for 4 to simplify the fraction. Since both 12 and 16 are divisible by 4, you can divide both the numerator and denominator by 4 to get the simplified fraction 3/4.

Divisibility tricks can also help you understand the relationships between numbers. For example, if you know that a number is divisible by 3, you know that it is also divisible by 9. This is because 9 is a multiple of 3.

Common divisibility tricks

Here are some common divisibility tricks:

• A number is divisible by 2 if the last digit is even.
• A number is divisible by 3 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 3.
• A number is divisible by 4 if the last two digits are divisible by 4.
• A number is divisible by 5 if the last digit is a 0 or a 5.
• A number is divisible by 6 if it is divisible by both 2 and 3.
• A number is divisible by 8 if the last three digits are divisible by 8.
• A number is divisible by 9 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 9.
• A number is divisible by 10 if the last digit is 0.

Example

Let's say you have the fraction 24/36. You can use the divisibility trick for 12 to simplify the fraction. Since both 24 and 36 are divisible by 12, you can divide both the numerator and denominator by 12 to get the simplified fraction 2/3.

Conclusion

Divisibility tricks are a helpful tool for working with fractions. They allow you to quickly determine if a number is divisible by another number without having to perform long division. This can be useful for simplifying fractions and understanding the relationships between numbers.