May17

Singapore Bars Applied to the Addition of Fractions

In today’s post, we will learn how to apply Singapore Bars to the addition of fractions. You will see how much easier it is working with bars.

If you have not heard about the Singapore method and want to know what it is based on, you can look at our blogs on Singapore bars applied to multiplication and division as well as fractions to introduce yourself to the subject a little before beginning.

One of the bases of the Singapore method is based on an educational sequence that progresses from the concrete to the abstract, with the use of the pictorial. Thus when children are already familiar with the concepts, they advance using abstract representations such as numbers, notations, and symbols.

Concrete → Pictorial → Abstract

To learn the sum of fractions with Singapore Bars let’s start with an example:

Martha and Albert each made a sandwich of the same size. Martha has eaten 7/8 of her sandwich and Albert has eaten 3/4 of his sandwich. What fraction have they eaten between the two?

These are the fractions of the sandwich that each has eaten:

We move from the concrete to the pictorial:

In order to add fractions, we must have the same denominator. That is, we must have the two “sandwiches” broken up into the same amount of portions. Therefore, we must make 3/4 into an equivalent fraction whose denominator is 8 to add them (if you do not remember equivalent fractions, you can see them in this post: equivalent fractions)

In this case we have multiplied both the numerator and denominator by 2:

Singapore Bars Now we can add the fractions:
Do you see how easy it is to add fractions with Singapore bars?

I hope Singapore bars have helped you to better understand the sum of fractions and that you continue learning with Smartick. Try it for free!

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