A fraction x/y is a ratio between two numbers x and y.
The ratio is preserved if both x and y are scaled up or down by the same number n.
This means you can obtain any fraction equivalent to x/y by multiplying both x and y by n, i.e. (n*x)/(n*y).
Then we have 1/4 = (2*1)/(2*4) = 2/8, for example.