Originally Posted by Cathy A
I don't understand why schools don't teach the meanings of the words "numerator" and "denominator". They don't mean "top" and "bottom"!

My kids were confused by the school's way of teaching this concept. I explained to them that the numerator enumerates or counts the number of pieces that you have, and the denominator names (from Latin nomen=name) the kind of pieces you have.

Now why couldn't my teachers have taught me this? It is not a difficult concept, once I see it written here. Thanks Cathy!