Siya says division always makes a number smaller, so dividing 1/2 by 1/4 will give an answer…

Why

Siya's rule matches the same solid whole-number experience Rohit's does — sharing 12 sweets among 4 friends gives each person fewer sweets than 12, so 'dividing shrinks things' has real evidence behind it. But dividing by a fraction less than 1 asks a different question: 1/2 ÷ 1/4 is really asking 'how many quarter-pieces fit into a half?' — and the answer to that is a COUNT of pieces, which can easily be bigger than 1/2 itself. Work it out: dividing by a fraction means multiplying by its flip (reciprocal), so 1/2 ÷ 1/4 = 1/2 × 4 = 2 — a whole 2, clearly bigger than 1/2. Picture it directly: half a roti, cut into quarter-sized pieces — you get 2 whole quarter-pieces out of that half, and 2 is bigger than the 1/2 you started with. Test: 1 ÷ 1/2 asks 'how many halves fit into 1 whole?' — the answer is 2, again bigger than the 1 you started dividing. No, the answer will be bigger than 1/2: dividing by a fraction smaller than 1 asks how many of those small pieces fit in, and that count is often bigger than what you began with.