Which fraction is equivalent to 40%?

To determine which fraction is equivalent to 40%, it's important to understand that a percentage is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100. Therefore, 40% can be written as 40 out of 100, or 40/100.

Next, we simplify the fraction. Both the numerator and denominator can be divided by their greatest common divisor, which is 20. When we do that, we have:

40 ÷ 20 = 2
100 ÷ 20 = 5

This simplifies to 2/5, confirming that 40% is indeed equivalent to the fraction 2/5.

The other choices do not simplify to 40/100. For instance, the fraction 1/2 equals 50%, 3/5 equals 60%, and 4/10 simplifies to 2/5, which is equivalent to 40% but should not be considered since it matches with the fraction format, already defined prior. Therefore, 2/5 is the value that directly corresponds to 40%.