Denominator and Numerator

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  • April 29, 2013 4:17 pm at 4:17 pm #609171
    popa_bar_abba
    Participant

    how come people assume that I know which one is which? Of course I don’t.

    Can someone give me a good way to remember such that I will remember?

    April 29, 2013 4:21 pm at 4:21 pm #950098
    Torah613Torah
    Participant

    nUmerator is Up.

    DenOmiNator is DOwN.

    Up is on top of down.

    So N/D and numerator on top of denominator.

    edit: everyone, even professors, gets confused. The words are too long for such a simple thing.

    April 29, 2013 4:25 pm at 4:25 pm #950099
    akuperma
    Participant

    Unless you are a math teacher, who cares as long as you can do the math.

    April 29, 2013 5:20 pm at 5:20 pm #950100
    🍫Syag Lchochma
    Participant

    I always thought of denominator as sounding like ‘demotion’, which means a step down.

    April 29, 2013 5:32 pm at 5:32 pm #950101
    popa_bar_abba
    Participant

    Unless you are a math teacher, who cares as long as you can do the math.

    Sometimes you are reading about a calculation in prose, and it refers back to what increases and decreases the denominator and numerator.

    April 29, 2013 5:34 pm at 5:34 pm #950102
    WIY
    Member

    Downominator. Remember D for down. N for North.

    April 29, 2013 5:40 pm at 5:40 pm #950103
    popa_bar_abba
    Participant

    Maybe denominator is like dominates, so it is on top.

    April 29, 2013 6:07 pm at 6:07 pm #950104
    🍫Syag Lchochma
    Participant

    or maybe not

    April 29, 2013 9:54 pm at 9:54 pm #950105
    Nechomah
    Participant

    I thought of “common denominator”. You know, the same thing in the bottom.

    April 29, 2013 10:58 pm at 10:58 pm #950106
    Torah613Torah
    Participant

    Nechomah – why on the bottom?

    April 30, 2013 4:24 am at 4:24 am #950107
    Oh Shreck!
    Participant

    Denominator = the one who ousts the nominated.

    Numerator = the one who counts (I guess the votes)

    April 30, 2013 4:29 am at 4:29 am #950108
    popa_bar_abba
    Participant

    My dad explained it.

    The denominator denominates the nature of the things you are counting. That is, do you have 5ths? Or do you have 365ths? Or 18ths?

    The numerator enumerates how many of those denominated things you have.

    ??? ?? ????

    April 30, 2013 3:46 pm at 3:46 pm #950109
    Torah613Torah
    Participant

    Is he a math teacher? That’s the best explanation I’ve ever heard.

    April 30, 2013 8:00 pm at 8:00 pm #950110
    popa_bar_abba
    Participant

    Nope.

    April 30, 2013 8:22 pm at 8:22 pm #950111
    yentingyenta
    Participant

    I remembered it as backwards alphabetical order. worked for me even if its backwards

    April 30, 2013 8:43 pm at 8:43 pm #950112
    nfgo3
    Member

    You do yourself a disservice by relying on simple-minded mnemonic devices to remember the meanings of numerator and denominator. It is better to understand what a fraction fundamentally represents.

    It is easy to remember if you keep in mind the fact that the numerator and denominator are the components of a fraction, which is a mathematical expression that numerically represents a number less than one, i.e., something that is divided into pieces. The numerator tells us how many pieces there are – it has the same root as “number” or “enumerate”; and the denominator tells us how many pieces the whole is broken into. So, for example 5/8ths tells us that there is a fraction – a number less than 1 – that consists of 5 pieces of a whole that is broken into eight pieces, or eights. This if far more meaningful that “numerator is on top, denominator is on bottom.”

    Can someone help me with remembering the difference between “terminator” and “refrigerator”?

    April 30, 2013 10:50 pm at 10:50 pm #950113
    WIY
    Member

    popa_bar_abba

    I guess that means he must be a math teacher :-p

    May 2, 2013 9:49 pm at 9:49 pm #950114
    Toi
    Participant

    personally, i stick to decimals…

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