Q&A for How to Divide a Whole Number by a Decimal

You have to keep adding zeros to the end of the decimal until the whole number can fit inside it.

If you're asking about the zero in the quotient above, it's because 02.5 is the same as 2.5, and it's just easier to write it without the zero.

It didn't. Instead, a zero was brought down to the bottom line, turning the 6 into a 60. Then 12 was divided into 60, giving 5, which was entered on the top.

You move the decimal point straight up from the dividend into the quotient.

Divide as described above. You'll wind up with a quotient less than 1.

Yes.

When you encounter a repeating decimal, you can choose to ignore the later numbers after they start repeating if you'd like. Your accuracy increases when you include later, repeating numbers, but the increase in accuracy is minor.

Transform the problem to 630 ÷ 18. The answer will be correct.

Move the decimal point enough places to the right to make the divisor a whole number. You must move the decimal point in the dividend the same number of places to the right.

Yes. Just put a decimal point in the quotient right above the one in the dividend.

Eliminate the decimal point in the divisor by moving the decimal point in both the divisor and the dividend one space to the right. This means you are now dividing 8 into 273.6. The answer will be the same as if you had not moved those decimal points.

You want to eliminate the decimal point from the divisor. So first multiply both the divisor and the dividend by 100, thus moving the decimal point two places to the right in each number. This will not affect the quotient: it will be the same as it would have been if you hadn't moved the decimal points. The division thus becomes: 119,000 divided by 85. There is now no decimal point in the divisor to worry about, and you can perform the division operation normally.

You would not change the 3.2 to 32. Don't worry about a decimal point in the dividend. It's only a decimal point in the divisor we worry about. So in this case, divide 21 into 3.2, and the decimal point will remain where it is and be raised straight up into the quotient. Thus, 3.2 ÷ 21 = 0.1 (or more accurately, 0.15).

Move the decimal point straight up from the dividend to the quotient.

First you move the decimal point to the right end of the divisor, making it a whole number. Then you move the decimal point in the dividend the same number of places to the right. The whole point is to make the divisor a whole number while leaving unchanged the relationship between the divisor and the dividend. (The divisor is the number being divided into the dividend.)

Because the 12 was once a decimal, you have to put a decimal point after the two to make it a decimal again.

First divide 515 by 5. That's 103. Then place a decimal point in line with the decimal point in the dividend. The answer is 1.03.

It's fine. It doesn't need to have a decimal. For example, 12 / 0.5 is equal to 24, which doesn't have a decimal.