Q&A for How to Divide Decimals

Absolutely! Dividing decimals is really not much harder than dividing with whole numbers—you just need to keep track of where the decimal point belongs. It’s easiest if you write out all your steps on paper.

You’d do this basically the same way you do any other division in your head, except that you have to keep track of where the decimal point belongs. To make it easier, multiply both numbers by 10 (or some multiple of 10) to get the decimal point out of the way in the divisor. Once you’ve calculated the answer, mentally put the decimal point where it belongs above the decimal point in the dividend.

This may seem tricky, but fortunately, it works pretty much the same way as long division! Put a decimal point above the dividend on top of the division bar, directly over the point in the dividend. Then, pretend the point isn’t there and solve the problem as you normally would with 2 whole numbers. When you’re done, the decimal point will be in the correct place.

Multiply your answer to the division problem by the number you divided by. You should come up with the number you divided if you did both operations correctly.

If you want to divide a fraction into another number, invert the fraction and multiply it by the other number.

420/.05 = 8400

Ignore the decimal point at first. Perform the division, then place the decimal point in the quotient immediately above the decimal point in the dividend. (To check your work, analyze what you're trying to do. In this case you're trying to calculate one-quarter of a number slightly larger than 1, so the answer will be slightly more than one-quarter, or .25.)

Leave it blank or bring it up on the division bar behind the decimal point.

It's 4 1/4.

You solved 9 divided by 4.5. 4.5 divided by 9 is .5 (.5 is one half).

Pi is 3.14159.

You add a decimal at the end of your number and then put your remainder after it.

It is identical to dividing 19 into 68.5.

Move the decimal over one space on both numbers; 980 divided by 2, or 490.

Ignore the zero. In this case you can ignore both zeroes. Move the decimal point two places to the right, leaving a divisor of 71. You would also move the decimal point in the dividend two places to the right, and then divide as usual, with the decimal point in the quotient being directly above the newly placed decimal point in the dividend.

You don't need to move around the decimal if there isn't one in the divisor. Only if there is one in the divisor would you need to go around it.

Think of it as dividing 15 into 42.0. The answer will include a digit to the right of the decimal point.

Subtracting 29% is simply not the same thing as dividing by 1.29. Perhaps you're thinking of this: subtracting 29% is the same as multiplying by 71% (which is 100% - 29%).

You put an r after your answer without the remainder and then put your remainder after the r.

Move the decimal point two places to the right in both numbers. That won't change the answer. The problem turns into dividing 1800 by 3 = 600.

0.25 ÷ 15.75 = 25 ÷ 1575 = 0.015873.

Express the dividend 60 as 60.000. Then use long division to divide by 5317, placing the quotient's decimal point directly above the one in the dividend. (The quotient will have a zero after the decimal point before any other digits.)

Using the division bar, perform the division, ignoring the decimal point in the dividend. Then place the decimal point in the quotient directly above the decimal point in the dividend. (Dividing by 10 is especially easy: all you have to do is move the decimal point in the quotient one place to the left of where it was in the dividend. All of the digits remain the same. 7.5 ÷ 10 = 0.75.)

35.5 / 0.5 = 355/5, which is 71. Dividing by 1/2 (0.5), by the way, is the same as multiplying by 2. 35.5)(2) = 71.0, which is the same as 71.

4.64.

First multiply both numbers by 100 to get rid of the decimal in the divisor. (That does not change the result of the division.) So 28.9 / 0.85 is the same as 2890 / 85. Now use long division. The quotient is 34, with no remainder. (See Do Long Division .)

The decimal point is placed right above the decimal point in the dividend (the number inside the division box). For example, if you divide 5 into 35.5, the quotient (without the decimal) is 71. The 7 goes right above the first 5 of the dividend, and the 1 goes right above the second 5. The decimal point in the quotient goes right above the dividend's decimal point, so that the final quotient is 7.1.

See Learn Math and related articles.