A cake with one quarter removed. The remaining ³⁄₄ of the cake has been divided into two pieces.

A fraction is a number that shows how many equal parts there are. When we write fractions, we show one number with a line above (or a slash next to) another number. For example, \displaystyle{ \tfrac{1}{4} }, ¹⁄₄ and 1/4.are different ways of writing the same fraction (in this case a quarter). The top number tells us how many parts there are, and the bottom number tells us the total number of parts.