Dividing a whole number by a unit fraction

let's think about what 3 / 1/4 is equal to pause this video and see if you can figure it out on your own and I'll give you a hint take 3 holes and divide it into pieces or sections that are each 1/4 of a hole and then think about how many sections you have all right now let's work through this together now let me draw three holes and so let's say this is I'm gonna hand draw it so it's not gonna be perfect but let's say that is one hole right over there this is two holes right over there and then I have my third hole just like that and now I'm going to divide it into pieces that are or sections that are each 1/4 of a hole so this first hole is four pieces that are each 1/4 each or 4/4 and then I have another 4/4 right over here and then I have another 4/4 right over here another way to think about it I took the three holes and I divided it into fourths so if you divide it into fourths how many pieces am I going to have well this is pretty straightforward you have 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 pieces and I didn't even have to count that each hole is going to be 4/4 so 3 wholes is going to be 3 times 4/4 or 12 pieces or 12 sections so that is going to be equal to 12 another way to think about it is if you take 3 and you divide it into equal sections that are each a fourth you're going to have 12 equal sections