Which of the following numbers is the smallest
a. 3/7
b. 1/3
c. 5/6
d. 9/14
and how

To find which one is the smallest, we must first give the fractions a common denominator. That number happens to be 42. Rewriting the fractions results in:

3/7 becomes 18/42
1/3 becomes 14/42
5/6 becomes 35/42
9/14 becomes 27/42

When placed in this format, we can see that 1/3 is in fact the smallest. Hope this helps :)