Division
Division is splitting into equal parts or groups.
It is the result of "fair sharing".
Example: there are 12 chocolates, and 3 friends want to share them, how do they divide the chocolates?
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| 12 Chocolates | 12 Chocolates Divided by 3 |
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Answer: 12 divided by 3 is 4: they get 4 each.
Symbols
| ÷ / |
We use the ÷ symbol, or sometimes the / symbol to mean divide: 12 ÷ 3 = 4 I will use both symbols here so you get used to it. |
Opposite of Multiplying
Division is the opposite of multiplying. If you know a multiplication fact you can find a division fact:
Example: 3 × 5 = 15, so 15 / 5 = 3.
Also 15 / 3 = 5.
Why? Well it is easy to understand if you think of the numbers in rows and columns like in this illustration:
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So there are four related facts:
- 3 × 5 = 15
- 5 × 3 = 15
- 15 / 3 = 5
- 15 / 5 = 3
Knowing your Multiplication Tables can help you with division!
Example: What is 28 ÷ 7 ?
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Searching around the multiplication table you find that 28 is 4 × 7, so 28 divided by 7 must be 4. Answer: 28 ÷ 7 = 4 |
Names
There are special names for each number in a division:
dividend ÷ divisor = quotient
Example: in 12 ÷ 3 = 4:
- 12 is the dividend
- 3 is the divisor
- 4 is the quotient
But Sometimes It Does Not Work Perfectly!
Sometimes you cannot divide things up evenly ... there may be something left over.
Example: There are 7 bones to share with 2 pups.
But 7 cannot be divided exactly into 2 groups,
so each pup gets 3 bones,
but there will be 1 left over:
We call that the Remainder.
Read more about this at Division and Remainders
Exercises
Try these division worksheets.