They do not indicate any workplace applications for entry level workers in multiplication or division of fractions. The curriculum uses shop fractions and only covers addition and subtraction. Area II uses measurement tools to teach shop fractions because measurement is the most common workplace application of fractions. Instead of extensively using mathematical terms such as numerator and denominator, fractions are demonstrated and explained using a ruler . For example, a ruler is an effective, concrete example of the meaning of the terms numerator and denominator.
Students are able to see what a fraction means in a workplace related example.
If an inch is divided into two equal parts, one of those equal parts is inch. The bottom number tells a student into how many equal part an inch is divided and the top number tells the student how many of those equal parts you are using. This understanding of fractions in terms of measurement forms the basis for instruction on borrowing and carrying with fractions. It is important for students to be taught to read a ruler and to understand what the divisions mean. Instructors point out that the inch line is the longest, the inch measurement is next in length and so on down to the shortest line on the ruler representing either sixteenths or thirty-seconds.