# What is one-half?

I was sleeping and I was thinking about this question last night and I cuoldn't sleep at all.

What is one half?

at first I thought it meant 1/2, but then I thought "hey, one, half. I said one first and then half later, so it means $$1 \frac{1}{2}$$"

Yeah so could anyone clarify this for me lol?

rock.freak667
Homework Helper
Usually 1½ is read as "one and a half".

½ is usually read as just "half"

I think ½ to mean one-half sounds redundant.

what is one half then?

disregardthat
How many halves is one half?

1+1/2 is three halves, 1/2 is one half. See, it's easy!

No but rock.freak667 stated, we could've just said "half" for 1/2

but when we say one, it means 1 and then we say half after it 1/2 it sounds like 1 1/2

One half 1 1/2

cristo
Staff Emeritus
If you call 1/2 "half" then "one half" is 1 x 1/2=1/2. The same is true, e.g, for thirds: "two thirds" is 2/3=2 x 1/3

It is 0.5.

Last edited:
It is 0.5.

If I said it's 0.4999... I could stir up some excitement :-)

Last edited:
What is one-half?

one-half = 1/2
one half = 1 1/2
one-fourth = 1/4
one fourth = 1 4th
:surprised

HallsofIvy
Homework Helper
I can't believe this thread has lasted through 8 (now 9!) posts. The original post is simply a play on words and has nothing to do with mathematics.

Yes, the original post deals with words, but it reminds me of a pet peve regarding how "mixed fractions" are written- say "4 and a half" is writen as 4 1/2
When evaluated as an expression, there is implied multiplication which the original phrase does not imply.

HallsofIvy
Homework Helper
No, it isn't. Writing algebraic symbols next to each other, such as "xy", is implied multiplication. That is not true of actual numbers written next to each other.

"29" does not mean "2 times 9".

1/2 is 6 of a dozen.

I always get confused when someone says they drank a whole half gallon of milk. Is that like drinking a half whole gallon? Is it whole milk or half and half. What's the difference between whole milk and half and half anyway. If you mix a half gallon of half and half and a half gallon of whole, do you get a gallon and a half of half half and half and half whole? What if you have two half brothers? Is that the same as having one brother?

Gold Member
Jimmy wins, again.

Jimmy wins, again.
Antiphon's is funnier.

I always get confused when someone says they drank a whole half gallon of milk. Is that like drinking a half whole gallon? Is it whole milk or half and half. What's the difference between whole milk and half and half anyway. If you mix a half gallon of half and half and a half gallon of whole, do you get a gallon and a half of half half and half and half whole? What if you have two half brothers? Is that the same as having one brother?

That's some horrorshow moloko.

That's some horrorshow moloko.

Gold Member

It looks like it's one-half full to me.

As an engineer I must declare that it doesn't matter if it's half empty or half full; its merely twice as big as needs to be.

As an opportunist I must declare that it doesn't matter if it's half empty or half full; are you going to drink it?

As an opportunist I must declare that it doesn't matter if it's half empty or half full; are you going to drink it?

I'll drink half.

lisab
Staff Emeritus
Gold Member
I'll drink half.

I'll drink half of what's left.

lisab
Staff Emeritus