Division in maths is a way of sharing or grouping numbers into equal parts. In other words, division is used for finding the smaller group into which a large group of numbers can be distributed equally.
For example, suppose we have 32 cookies and 8 children. To find how many cookies each child gets, we use division: 32 ÷ 8 = 4. So, each child gets 4 cookies.
Division is also the opposite of multiplication and can be understood as repeated subtraction.
- 16 ÷ 4 → 16 − 4 − 4 − 4 − 4 = 0 (no remainder)
- 10 ÷ 3 → 10 − 3 − 3 − 3 = 1 (remainder 1)
Real Life Uses of Division
Some real-life scenarios where division is used are:
- Sharing Food Equally: If you have 12 slices of pizza and 4 friends, dividing 12 by 4 helps you know each friend gets 3 slices.
- Budgeting Money: If you earn $500 and want to save it equally over 5 months, dividing 500 by 5 tells you that you should save $100 each month.
- Distributing Tasks: In a team of 6 people with 30 tasks, dividing 30 by 6 shows that each person should handle 5 tasks.
- Cooking and Recipes: If a recipe is for 4 people but you only need it for 2, dividing the ingredients by 2 will give you the correct amount for a smaller portion.
- Travel Planning: If a car trip is 300 miles and you want to make 3 equal stops, dividing 300 by 3 tells you that you’ll stop every 100 miles.
Note: Division by 0 is a special case in mathematics and real life that is undefined or not possible.
When you divide a number by another, you’re essentially splitting it into equal parts. However, dividing by zero means you’re trying to split something into zero parts, which doesn’t make sense – there’s no way to create “zero parts” from a quantity.
Parts of Division
There are four parts to the division that includes,
- Dividend: The number that is to be divided is called the Dividend.
- Divisor: The value of the portion which is taken out is called the Divisor.
- Quotient: The number of equal portions in which the dividend is divided is called the Quotient.
- Remainder: The remaining value left is called the remainder.
Let us imagine a chocolate bar that we need to divide equally.
- Dividend: The full chocolate bar on the left is the "dividend" – the amount we want to divide.
- Divisor: The smaller blocks in the middle are the "divisor" – how many pieces we split the chocolate into.
- Remainder: The piece on the right is the "remainder" – the leftover part that couldn’t be divided equally.
Steps to Perform Division
Here is a stepwise method of doing division in math's.
Step 1: Using the symbol ⟌ write the divisor (here 4) on its left side and the dividend (here 77) enclosed under the division symbol ( ⟌ ).
Step 2: Starting from the left-hand side take one digit of the dividend at a time and check whether it is smaller or greater than the divisor. If the digit is smaller, then take two digits at a time. (here, 7 is greater than 4).
Step 3: Take the multiple of the divisor that is equal to or less than the digits in step 2. (here 4×1 = 4, i.e. less than 7). Write the number in the Quotient.
Step 4: Subtract the multiple of the divisor from the digits in Step 2 and write the remainder and then carry the next digit from the dividend.
If the number is less than the divisor adds zero in the quotient and bring the next digit down, repeat this process till the divisor is greater than the number. (here 7 - 4 = 3)
Step 5: Now again find the suitable multiple of the quotient and repeat the above process till the remainder so obtained is less than the divisor.
Step 6: When the remainder obtained is less than the divisor the Quotient and the remainder so obtained are the result of the division.
Division of 2 Digit Number
In division 2 digits we study how to divide a two digit number by one digit number. The same can be studied by the examples added below,
Example 1: Divide 96 by 4
Using Division Algorithm,
- Quotient = 24
- Remainder = 0
Example 2: Divide 56 by 5.
Using Division Algorithm
- Quotient = 11
- Remainder = 1
Division of 3 Digit Number
In division 3 digits we study how to divide a three digit number by one digit number. The same can be studied by the examples added below,
Example 1: Divide 196 by 6
Using Division Algorithm
- Quotient = 32
- Remainder = 4
Example 2: Divide 546 by 5
Using Division Algorithm
- Quotient = 129
- Remainder = 1