Division is one of the easiest types of math to learn, especially if you use the right method. The first step to getting the hang of it is to understand what the division means. How do you do it faster?
The first step is to draw several boxes that are equal to the divisor. For example, draw five boxes if the divisor is 5. The next step is to move from box to box, adding a single dot. Each of these dots represents one out of the total number you are dividing.
If it is 20 divided by 5, you’re going to have 20 dots equally distributed in the five boxes.
Example: 20 divided by 5, twenty equals:
The answer is 4, (there are four dots in each box).
You can check your answer by multiplying quotient (4) with the divisor (5). In this case, 4 x 5 = 20.
You should always make sure that all the boxes have an equal number of dots.
Division by Subtraction
Another easy way to learn division is by subtracting the dividend (20 in our example above) with the divisor (5 from the above).
Continue subtracting until you can no longer subtract. In our example, you will subtract 20 with five until you get 0. Count the number of subtractions, and that is the answer. You can only subtract 20 with 5, only four times. Check the illustration below.
Illustration:
- 20 – 5 = 15
- 15 – 5 = 10
- 10 – 5 = 5
- 5 – 5 = 0
Sometimes you can reach an answer that is below the divisor or the number you are subtracting with. Stop there. Anything that you can no longer deduct is the remainder. You can include these remainder in your answer. Well, we don’t have a remainder above since we got to zero. Nothing remained.
