When the same thing is done with two fractions, the result is still called their product, and the process is still called multiplication. There is this difference, that whereas a whole number is made by adding 1 to itself a number of times, a fraction is made by dividing 1 into a number of equal parts, and adding _one of these parts_ to itself a number of times. This being the meaning of the word multiplication, as applied to fractions, what is ¾ multiplied by ⅞? Whatever is done with 1 in order to make ⅞ must now be done with ¾; but to make ⅞, 1 is divided into 8 parts, and 7 of them are taken. Therefore, to make ¾ × ⅞, ¾ must be divided into 8 parts, and 7 of them must be taken. Now ¾ is, by (108), the same thing as ²⁴/₃₂. Since ²⁴/₃₂ is made by dividing 1 into 32 parts, and taking 24 of them, or, which is the same thing, taking 3 of them 8 times, if ²⁴/₃₂ be divided into 8 equal parts, each of them is ³/₃₂; and if 7 of these parts be taken, the result is ²¹/₃₂ (116): therefore ¾ multiplied by ⅞ is ²¹/₃₂; and the same reasoning may be applied to any other fractions. But ²¹/₃₂ is made from ¾ and ⅞ by multiplying the two numerators together for the numerator, and the two denominators for the denominator; which furnishes a rule for the multiplication of fractions. 119. If this product ²¹/₃₂ is to be multiplied by a third fraction, for example, by ⁵/₉, the result is, by the same rule, ¹⁰⁵/₂₈₈; and so on. The general rule for multiplying any number of fractions together is therefore: Multiply all the numerators together for the numerator of the product, and all the denominators together for its denominator. 120. Suppose it required to multiply together ¹⁵/₁₆ and ⁸/₁₀. The product may be written thus: 15 × 8 120 -------, and is ----, 16 × 10 160 which reduced to its lowest terms (109) is ¾. This result might have been obtained directly, by observing that 15 and 10 are both measured by 5, and 8 and 16 are both measured by 8, and that the fraction may be written thus: 3 × 5 × 8 -------------. 2 × 8 × 2 × 5 Divide both its numerator and denominator by 5 × 8 (108) and (87), and the result is at once ¾; therefore, before proceeding to multiply any number of fractions together, if there be any numerator and any denominator, whether belonging to the same fraction or not, which have a common measure, divide them both by that common measure, and use the quotients instead of the dividends. A whole number may be considered as a fraction whose denominator is 1; thus, 16 is ¹⁶/₁ (106); and the same rule will apply when one or more of the quantities are whole numbers. EXERCISES 136 268 36448 18224 ---- × --- = ------- = ------- 7470 919 6864930 3432465 1 2 3 4 1 2 17 2 --- × --- × --- × --- = --- ---- × ---- = ---- 2 3 4 5 5 17 45 45