Lesson 3 — Activity 3: Workplace Division
Completion requirements
Lesson 3 — Activity 3:
Workplace Division
Division is a quick and efficient way to divide an amount into groups so that each group has an equal amount or number.
Remember the three terms that are often used in division problems:
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If you think of division as a series of subtractions, then it may not seem so difficult.
For example, Janice paid $50 for several books at $10 each. How many did she buy?
$50 ÷ $10 = ?
This is the same as subtracting 10 from 50 five times.
$50 – $10 – $10 – $10 – $10 – $10 = 0
Knowing your multiplication facts is very helpful when performing division. If you know that 6 x 7 = 42, then you also know that 42 ÷ 6 = 7 or 42 ÷ 7 = 6. If you struggle to remember these facts, remember to use your multiplication table that you printed out in the previous activity.
Click on the Play button below to watch a video to learn the process to follow when dividing.
What is long division?
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Long division is a method for handling complex divisions without using a calculator.
Click here to download a document that shows you how to divide using a paper and pencil. You may want to print this off and keep it in your math binder so you can easily refer to it when you need to!
It may sound scary to think about dividing by two or more digits, but really, it is just a matter of following the same steps as when dividing by one digit. There are a couple of little things that can be done to help. The following video clearly shows how easy this can be if you use rounding to help you reach a solution.
When you learned how to round whole numbers in Lesson 2 — Activity 2 you had to decide whether to round up or down. One way to help when solving division, is to round up.
3,567 ÷ 53
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rounds to |
3,600 ÷ 60
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As the video explained, if you tried to figure out how many times 53 will divide into 3,567, it just wouldn’t work. You could use trial and error, but where would you start? Rounding at least puts you close to a solution!
Click here to watch a video from khanacademy.com that shows another way to divide a number by two digits.
In this video, the person rounded to the nearest whole number, but pointed out two important things to note:
1. When you multiply the divisor by the number you have entered into the quotient, the answer MUST be SMALLER than the number you were dividing into. If it isn’t, you won’t be able to complete the next step, which is to subtract.
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If this is the case, go down a number.
- If this is the case, go down a number.
2. When you have subtracted, the answer must be SMALLER than the divisor.
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If this is the case, go up a number.
- If this is the case, go up a number.
Digging Deeper!
Click here for more information on dividing whole numbers.