Slice It Up: Adding Fractions with the Same Denominator

Imagine a pizza cut into 8 equal slices. You eat 2 slices and your friend eats 3 slices. How many slices have you eaten altogether? You probably said 5 — nice work! Now here is the big question: how do we write that using fractions? That is exactly what this lesson is about.

A fraction is a way of showing part of a whole. Every fraction has two numbers separated by a line. The bottom number is called the denominator. It tells you how many equal parts the whole has been cut into. The top number is called the numerator. It tells you how many of those parts you have. So in the fraction 2/8, the denominator is 8 (eight equal slices) and the numerator is 2 (you have two of them). When two fractions share the SAME denominator, adding them is straightforward. The denominator stays exactly the same — the whole pizza is still cut into the same number of slices. You just add the numerators together to find the total number of parts. Rule: a/c + b/c = (a+b)/c The denominator does NOT change. Only the numerators are added.