Why they never run out: pick any two fractions between 0 and 1. Their “midpoint” is again a fraction lying between them — for example between 1⁄2 and 1⁄3 lies 5⁄12. You can keep doing this forever, so no one can ever finish listing them.
Q4.
What is the length of the blue line and black line shown below? The distance between 0 and 1 is 1 unit long, and it is divided into two equal parts. The length of each part is 1⁄2. So the blue line is 1⁄2 units long. Write the fraction that gives the length of the black line in the box.
Answer
Each step on this line is 1⁄2 unit. The black line starts at 0 and stops at the mark between 1 and 2, that is at the third half-step.
Blue line = 1 step = 1/2 unit
Black line = 3 steps = 3 times 1/2 = 3/2 unit = 1 1/2 units
Answer: the black line is 3⁄2 (one and a half) units long.
Q5.
Write the fraction that gives the lengths of the black lines in the respective boxes.
Answer
Here the unit is divided into 5 equal parts, so every step is 1⁄5 unit. All four black lines start at 0 and end after 1, at the four empty boxes.
The four black lines of the book redrawn: they stop 6, 7, 8 and 9 fifth-steps away from 0.
First box = 6 steps = 6/5 Second box = 7 steps = 7/5 Third box = 8 steps = 8/5 Fourth box = 9 steps = 9/5