Fractions worksheets! I can’t get seem to get enough!

Regular visitors know how much time and energy I’ve put into the fraction worksheets, and their answer keys represent some of the more complex work on the site. If you look at the addition and subtraction worksheets, you’ll find detailed steps that show calculations for reaching common denominators. The fraction multiplication and division worksheets demonstrate the cross cancelling operations leading to answers in their simplest form. All of these worksheets really helped get my older daughter through fractions, and I’m proud to say this is one of the scarier math topics that she has down cold.

But getting started was hard. I’m right at the fractional starting line with my younger daughter, and we needed something to begin with that visualizes exactly what a fraction means. Enter the Graphic Fraction worksheet series I posted today…

Graphic Fractions Worksheets

These worksheets make a great lead-in to the fraction operations. Let me know what you think in the comments section, and if you like them (or the rest of the site!) please consider clicking the Google “+1″ button near the top left of the page.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

The series of conversion worksheets has finally arrived at imperial measurements commonly used in the United States. While these lack the easy math associated with the metric or SI units, they correspond to the familiar grocery items the girls and I are intimately familiar with. (Yeah, go ahead and judge. I’m holding down the math end of the “good parenting” responsibilities, even if there is a chocolate cow out there somewhere with our family’s name written on it. In Hershey’s syrup no less, I’m sure.)

So the conversion worksheets are a bit different from the metric versions because fractional answers are in the smaller units (for example, you get answers in “pounds and ounces” instead of just a decimal number of kilograms.) The worksheet series builds up to those kinds of answers, so the earlier ones in the sets are always whole units, but you’ll really need to have down the whole gallons/quarts/pints/cups/ounces thing for volume.

Maybe time to hit the chocolate milk. Strictly for review, of course.

New worksheets are posted at the link below, or through the worksheet menu…

Imperial Measurement Conversion Worksheets

This week’s new worksheets are a natural follow-on to last week’s conversion worksheets using unity fractions. These worksheets present problems of conversion between metric areas and volumes; in other words problems dealing with square or cubic meter-based units. The last few worksheet sets go further into conversions between cubic volumes and liter-base unit measurements. You can find the new worksheets here…

Metric Area and Cubic Volume Conversion Worksheets

These problems can get lengthy, and I’ve received some feedback that this approach seems slightly complex for introducing elementary conversions. However, as I pointed out in the previous post, this is the fundamental mechanism used for unit conversions in chemistry and physics classes so learning the skills on more basic problems is a big help for scoring good grades in science classes. I still remember Professor Vanosdall’s voice booming, “Cancel the units!” from my AP Chemistry class. You should start to see how unity fractions make these conversion manageable in the cubic-volume-to-liters worksheets.

We’re moving up the grades, and the line between math and science classes is starting to blur. For my oldest daughter, this is the first year of chemistry. All of these years I’ve been saying, “You’re going to use math a lot in science class,” and I’m finally starting to look smart in a young girl’s eyes. So say hello, friends, to unity fractions and the metric conversion worksheets!

We typically learn conversions for jumping easily between common units, especially in the metric system where most conversions are just a matter of multiplying or dividing by some power of ten. However, these simple conversions start to break down where the conversions become more complex. Quick, can you convert 64 decaliters into centiliters? No? Yeah, well me either.

The way around this is unity fractions. Each unity fraction expresses a conversion from base units (think meters, liters or grams for starters) to derived units (milliunits, centiunits, kilounits, etc.). By stringing more than one unity fraction together, you can easily convert from one derived unit to another. Units and factors of ten cross-cancel, just like with fraction multiplication, and the process can be extended easily to cover square or cubic units.

To get things started, I’ve posted conversion worksheets for distance (meters), mass (grams) and volume (liters), but you can look forward to more worksheets soon that cover conversions between different classes of units as well as imperial measurements. For now, you can find the new worksheets at the links here…

Metric Length Conversion Worksheets

Metric Mass Conversion Worksheets

Metric Volume Conversion Worksheets

As always, if you find these worksheets or any others useful, please consider clicking the Google “+1″ button near the top of the page to let others know. Your support of the site is much appreciated!

I gather entropy in the universe is supposed to be increasing. Turns out, around here, not so much.

Many thanks to JohnnyFourAces for pointing out that the randomness quotient of some of the worksheets had decreased in a recent update. For some of the “All Math Facts” worksheets, it went down substantially and centered on the earlier (easier) facts in the series.

Fixes for this have been posted, and additionally I added one and two minute timed worksheets to the Spaceship Math Multiplication Facts section to that include sets without the “times zero” and “times one” facts. Cutting these “gimme problems” really increases the density of more difficult multiplication facts and when your student is ready for these, any Mad Minute or Rocket Math timed test at school will seem much easier.

Happy Monday, everyone!