Suppose the 3 people that divided the 7 apples are Lea, John, and Zack. If we are to divide it evenly between 3 people we would have a diagram like
As observed in the diagram, each person gets two apples each, and a third from the 7th apple. The whole number 2 means exactly as it is, in this case represents that 2 whole apple each person gets, while the denominator 3 represents the fraction 1/3 from the 7th apple.
