Austin said i know 1/4 is less than 1/2, so that means 3/12 os less than 1/2 does austins reasoning makes sense

Hey there!

The first part of Austin's reasoning is defintely correct. If you think of a circle with four parts and one shaded, you'll definitely know that's less than a circle with two parts with one shaded.

Now, we look at his claim of 3/12 being less than 1/12. Let's look at the factors in 3/12:

3/12 = (1)(3)/4(3)

Cancel out the 3's to get 1/4. Now, we know that 3/12 and 1/2 are the same thing. Therefore, Austin's reasoning is correct.

Hope this helps!