You have a small chocolate cake to share with two friends. You cut it into 3 equal slices. Each person will get \(\frac{1}{3}\) of the cake. You take a slice for yourself, leaving \(\frac{2}{3}\) of the cake for your two friends: \(\frac{1}{3}\) of the cake for each person.
When adding fractions that have the same denominator (in this case ‘3’) we simply add the numerators together, and the denominator stays the same.
\[\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{3}=\frac{1+1+1}{3}=1\]
When multiplying a fraction by a whole number we multiply the numerator of the fraction by the whole number. The denominator says the same.
\[3\times\frac{1}{3}=\frac{3\times1}{3}=\frac{3}{3}\]
Once we have the result, we may be able to simplify the fraction. In this case \(\frac{3}{3}=1\)