Convert in Your Head

Grab a few recipe numbers and practice converting between the two forms. A recipe wanting 5/3 cups of milk is 1 and 2/3 cups: 5 divided by 3 is 1 remainder 2, and the 3 stays as the denominator. Going the other way, 2 and 3/4 pounds is (2 × 4 + 3) ÷ 4 = 11/4 pounds.

Now do it live. Next time you bake, measure a partial cup and say it both ways out loud: "three quarters, or three over four." After a week of this, the two forms stop feeling like separate notations and start feeling like two ways of saying the same amount.