Question

Elijah shares half a package of clay equally among himself and 2 friends. What fraction of the whole package of clay will each friend get?

Answer 1

one-sixth or 1/6

Elijah is sharing a half a package with his 2 friends, so all together they equal three people. This means that half the package must be broken into 3 equal parts. If the question only asked about half the package, each friend would get one-third. It doesn't! It asks about what fraction of the WHOLE package. For me, the easiest way to do this is to divide the other half of the package into 3 parts as well. This means that the whole package is divided into 6 pieces and each friend only gets one: 1/6 or one-sixth.