Decimal Division Without a Calculator Step-by-Step With Examples
Doing decimal divisions without a calculator may seem difficult, but there is an easy method which we are going to show you. The trick is simply to remove the decimal point in the division and then replace the decimal point when you get to the answer.
Although it may seem very complicated at first glance, the fact is that this little trick makes it quite easy. So keep reading as we explain our method step-by-step with a few examples and discover how to do divisions with decimals without using a calculator.
Dividing a Decimal by a Whole Number
Use a normal division method, ignoring the decimal point. Then put the decimal point in the same place once you have obtained the divided figure. Look at the example below:
- 9.1 divided by 7
You remove the decimal point in 9.1 and the division is now: 91 ÷ 7
This makes the division much easier to calculate - the result is 13.
Remember for the last step, you have to reinsert the decimal point into this result. 13 is now 1.3 - yes, its as easy as that!
How to Divide by a Decimal number
But why are you going to divide a decimal number?
The method this time is to convert the numbers you are dividing into a whole number. This exercise is solved by moving the decimal point of both numbers to the right. Example:
- 6.625 divided by 0.53
Move the decimal point two spaces, or the amount of space required to make it become an integer.
Now you are dividing by an integer and you can continue as normal: 662.5 ÷ 53
This is a very straight forward method but you must remember to move the decimal point by the same amount in both numbers.
Here is another example:
- 5.39 divided by 1.1
At the moment you are not dividing by an integer, so you need to move the decimal point. Move a single space and you now have: 53.9 ÷ 11
The rest of the division is easy because, as you learned at the beginning of this maths class, to divide a decimal number by a whole number you just need to forget about the decimal point for the first step and then put it back to get the final result. Continuing the example:
53.9 ÷ 11
539 ÷ 11
049
The result is 4.9!
So there you go, above you have the easiest way to divide decimals without a calculator.
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