Dividing numbers are pretty easy for some people, but what about dividing numbers which contain decimal points? This aspect of division can confuse quite a few people.
I’m about to simplify the whole process for you. Dividing numbers which contain decimal places are not as difficult as you may think.
Let’s look the numbers 24 divided by 6. In this setup, the number 24 is being split into six equal parts. If we have 24 apples and we split them into six equal parts or parcels, each parcel will have 4 apples. In other words, 24 divided by 6 is equal to 4.
In the above example, the number 24 is called the “dividend” and the number 6 is called the divisor. When dividing, the number which we are cutting up into smaller parts is always called the dividend; and the other number is called the divisor.
In the case above then, the number 6 is the divisor while 24 is the dividend. The numbers 6 and 24 are whole numbers: they do not contain decimal places. The mathematical exercise 24 divided by 6 is easy for most people to solve. But what if the numbers contained decimal places? What do we do then? Let’s take a look at it.
Look at the following mathematical problem: 24.5 divided by 6.4. In division, when we are dealing with numbers which contain decimal places, the best method is to change both the divisor and the dividend into whole numbers. How do we do this? We simply move the decimal point forward enough times to make the numbers into whole numbers. In the number 6.4, if we move the decimal point one place forward, the number becomes 64. In these cases, whatever we do with the divisor, we must also do with the dividend. So let’s move the decimal point one place forward in the dividend as well. When we do this, 24.5 becomes 245. So now, our simplified problem is 245 divided by 64.
Divide this as you would normally do. The answer for 245 divided by 64 is the same as 24.5 divided by 6.4.
Try it with a calculator if you don’t believe.
