Adding fractions is easy when the denominators (the numbers below the line) are the same.

When the denominators are the same, you are adding fractions that have the same amount of equal parts.

The numerators (the numbers above the line) represent the amount of parts you are talking about.

You can use fraction bars to help you add fractions.

Take a look at these examples.

Example 1:

To represent the answer, you can use a different fraction bar with the same amount of sections. You can then see how many shaded sections there are altogether.

The new amount of shaded parts becomes the new numerator.

Do you notice that only the numerator changes? That’s because the numerator is the only part of the fraction that is added. The denominator always stays the same.

So all you have to do is add the top numbers!

Example 2:

Use your knowledge of what happens to the numerator and denominator to solve this question.

If you only add the numerators, then 2 parts + 4 parts = 6 parts!

So the numerator changes to 6 and the denominator stays the same!

To make sure it is correct, you can double-check using fraction bars: