What Is Half Of 2/3?

To find half of 1 and 2/3 cups, you first need to convert the mixed number to an improper fraction.1 and 2/3 = (1 x 3 + 2) / 3 = 5/3Now, to find half of this amount, you can multiply the fraction by 1/2:(5/3) x (1/2) = 5/6So, half of 1 and 2/3 cups is 5/6 of a cup.

In practice, you can achieve this by using a combination of measuring cups, such as 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup, or by using 10 tablespoons (since there are 16 tablespoons in a cup, and 5/6 of 16 is 10).

Featured Answers

Mathematically, half of 1 2/3 cups is 5/6 of a cup. In practice, you can achieve this with 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup, or with 3/4 cup, one tablespoon, and one teaspoon.

Answered from Bob Greenwade

I often find myself needing to halve recipe measurements when cooking for just myself or a few people. Recently, I came across a recipe calling for “one and two thirds cups” of an ingredient. I wondered, what exactly is half of that odd 1 2/3 cups measurement? Let's walk through this step-by-step.

Table of Contents

• Understanding Fractions and Measurements
• Breaking Down the Initial Measurement
• Finding Half of the Initial Measurement
• Converting the Measurement to Common Fractions
• Measuring Out Half in Practice
• Tips for Measuring Half of Other Odd Fractions
• Handy Conversion Tables
• Sample Recipes Using Halved Measurements
• Summary

Understanding Fractions and Measurements

When dealing with fractions and measurements, it's important to have a solid grasp of some fundamental concepts. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• A fraction represents a part of a whole. The top number (numerator) is the number of parts we have, and the bottom number (denominator) is the total number of parts the whole is divided into.
• Fractions can represent both numbers (1/2) and measurements (1/2 cup).
• When a recipe calls for “1 2/3 cups,” the 2/3 fraction is in relation to the 1 cup as the whole.
• With measurements, the fraction representation relates to standard units like cups, teaspoons, etc.
• To find half of a fractional measurement, we divide the original fraction by 2.

Understanding these basics will make solving our conversion problem much easier.

Breaking Down the Initial Measurement

Let's start by breaking down exactly what “one and two thirds cups” means:

• The “one” refers to 1 whole cup.
• The “two thirds” refers to 2/3 of an additional cup.
• So “one and two thirds cups” is:
  • 1 whole cup
  • Plus 2/3 of a second cup
• Which can be represented as:
  • 1 cup
  • • 2/3 cup
• Or, as an improper fraction:
  • 1 2/3 cups

Now that we understand the initial measurement, we can calculate half of it more easily.

Finding Half of the Initial Measurement

To find half of something, we simply divide it by 2.

Our initial measurement was 1 2/3 cups. To find half of that:

• 1 2/3 cups divided by 2 is:
• 5/6 cups

Therefore, half of 1 2/3 cups is 5/6 cups.

While mathematically this is the exact half, when it comes to practical baking measurements, 5/6 cups can be inconvenient. Let's look at how to convert this into more standard cup measurements.

Converting the Measurement to Common Fractions

In baking, the most precise and common fractional cup measurements used are:

• Halves: 1/2 cup, 2/2 cup
• Thirds: 1/3 cup, 2/3 cup
• Fourths: 1/4 cup
• Eights: 1/8 cup
• Sixteenths: 1/16 cup

Using combinations of these common fractions, we can represent 5/6 cups as:

• 1/2 cup (3/6 cups)
• Plus 1/3 cup (2/6 cups)
• For a total of 5/6 cups.

So a more convenient and precise way to measure half of 1 2/3 cups is:

• 1/2 cup
• Plus 1/3 cup

Let's look at one more way to represent the measurement…

Measuring Out Half in Practice

When actually measuring out ingredients, there are equivalents we can use so we don't have to dirty multiple measuring cups and spoons.

A handy way to measure out half of 1 2/3 cups is:

• 3/4 cup (6/8 cups)
• Plus 1 tablespoon (1/16 cup)
• Plus 1 teaspoon (1/48 cup)

This gives us:

• 3/4 cup = 6/8 cups
• 1 tablespoon = 1/16 cup = 2/48 cups
• 1 teaspoon = 1/48 cup

For a total of 13/48 cups, which rounds nicely to 5/6 cups.

So in practice, I would measure out 3/4 cup, 1 tablespoon, and 1 teaspoon to get half of 1 2/3 cups.

Tips for Measuring Half of Other Odd Fractions

The process we just walked through can be applied to find half of any fractional measurement:

• Break the initial measurement down into individual fractions
• Add the fractions together as an improper fraction
• Divide the improper fraction by 2 to find half
• Convert the result to common baking fractions and equivalents

Let's practice with a couple more examples:

Half of 2 1/4 cups:

• 2 1/4 cups = 2 cups + 1/4 cup
• = 2 1/4 cups
• Half is 1 1/8 cups
• Which can be measured as:
  • 1 cup
  • 1/8 cup

Half of 1 3/4 cups:

• 1 3/4 cups = 1 cup + 3/4 cup
• = 1 3/4 cups
• Half is 7/8 cup
• Which can be measured as:
  • 3/4 cup
  • 1/8 cup

Getting comfortable with converting these odd fractions takes some practice, but following this process makes it much more manageable.

Handy Conversion Tables

To help visualize the relationships between fractions and standard cup measurements, here are some handy conversion tables:

Cup Conversions

Tablespoon and Teaspoon Conversions

Having a reference like this can take a lot of the guesswork out of converting fractions to measurable units.

Sample Recipes Using Halved Measurements

To give you an idea of halving recipes in practice, here are a couple examples of baking recipes that I successfully adapted using the half of 1 2/3 cups technique:

Half Batch Banana Bread

Original:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
• 1/3 cup sour cream

Halved:

• 1 1/8 cups flour
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup mashed bananas
• 3 tablespoons sour cream

This allowed me to make a nice little loaf of banana bread instead of a full sized one.

Half Batch Blueberry Muffins

Original:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries

Halved:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup blueberries

Making just 6 full-sized muffins was perfect for a weekend breakfast.

As you can see, being able to easily halve fractional measurements opens up a world of recipe downsizing possibilities!

Summary

To summarize what we've learned:

• “One and two thirds cups” means 1 cup plus 2/3 cups, which can be written as the improper fraction 1 2/3 cups.
• To find half, you divide the original amount by 2. Half of 1 2/3 cups is 5/6 cups.
• For more convenient baking measurements, 5/6 cups can be converted to:
  • 1/2 cup
  • Plus 1/3 cup
• Or, measured using common equivalents as:
  • 3/4 cup
  • 1 tablespoon
  • 1 teaspoon
• This same process can be followed to find half of any fractional measurement by converting to improper fractions.
• Handy conversion charts help visualize the relationships between fractions, decimals, and common cup measurements.
• Putting these concepts into practice allows easy adaptation of recipes to yield half batches.

Understanding how to halve odd fractional measurements opens up many possibilities for adjusting recipes. Next time you need to downsize a recipe, remember these tips to easily calculate half of any fraction.