A math teacher welcomed a new French exchange student into her class and then started teaching a lesson on fractions.



The French exchange student raised his hand and said, “Excuse me Madam, but I don’t know how to say fractions. How do you say those?”

“Easy,” said the teacher, “you just say the top number and then the bottom number is read as an ordinal number. For example, 2/3 is ‘two-thirds’, 3/4 is ‘three-fourths’, and 2/5 is ‘two-fifths’.”

“Thanks, I understand, “said the exchange student.

“Good,” said the teacher, and then asked the student, “so how do you say 4/8?”


“Should I reduce?” asked the boy.

“That would be best,” said the teacher.

“One-second,” said the boy.

“Take as long as you need,” said the teacher.