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What Is Division?

What is division?

Division is splitting something, such as numbers or objects, into equal groups or parts. Think of it as “fair sharing.” Let’s look at an example to give you a better understanding of what division is!

Let’s say you have 6 cookies, and you want to share them with 2 friends so that they both have the same number of cookies. How would you divide them? Since we have 2 friends, we would give each of them 3 cookies! So, 6 ÷ 2 equals 3!

What makes up a division?

Many different numbers make up a division. Each number has its own special name! For example, let’s say that we have 8 cookies and we want to share it with 2 friends. We will give each friend 3 cookies, but we will have 2 leftover.

A division problem with the divisor, quotient, dividend, and remainder labeled

Dividend is the total number of cookies.

Divisor is the number of friends that we want to share the cookies to.

Quotient is the number of cookies that we have shared to each friend.

Remainder is the number of cookies that is left over.

Here Are Some Special Cases to Remember When Dividing!

  1. Remember that you can NOT divide a number by 0! The answer will be undefined.

2. When dividing a number by 1, the answer is the original number. For example, 5÷1=5!

3. If the divisor and the dividend are the same number (and not 0), then the answer is always 1. For example, 5÷5=1!

Division is the Opposite of Multiplication!

Think of division as the opposite of multiplication. In our first example, we said that 6÷2=3. Think of this as, “what number multiplied by 2 equals 6?” Well, 3 multiplied by 2 equals 6! ( 3 x 2= 6)

Remember to use multiplication to check your division work! It’s a great way to see if your answer is correct!

Sydney Le
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