How do I find 3/4 of 36?

Question

anonymous · Answer

you should multiply them

anonymous · Answer

I know, But I need a method on how to explain it good to a 10 year old

anonymous · Answer

(3/4)(36)=(3/4)(4)(9)=(4/4)(3x9)=(1)(27)=27

anonymous · Answer

Find a quarter (divide 36 "counters" into 4 piles) and then count 3 piles....

anonymous · Answer

@hero How could you explain this to a 10-year-old boy?

anonymous · Answer

I know how to solve this myself, my brother is having trouble doing these kind of problems.

anonymous · Answer

And Im having trouble explaining how because to me it's obvious

hero · Answer

simply say some words translate to operations such as add, subtract, multiply and divide. 

For instance "and" means add. "is" means equal. And in this case, "of" means multiply. 

So 3/4 of 36 means 3/4 times 36.

anonymous · Answer

Or watch this video.I am sure you got a clue. http://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/fractions/v/multiplying-fractions

hero · Answer

Furthermore, 36 can also be written as a fraction because anything over 1 equals itself. So we can re-write it like so

$$\frac{3}{4} \times \frac{36}{1}$$ 

and if the 10 year old boy is already familiar with cancellation properties, you can tell him that it will become

$$\frac{3}{1} \times \frac{9}{1} $$ after cancellation

anonymous · Answer

Thank you all very much!