Learn Math: Division

Learning to divide is the most difficult of the basic math skills for young students to master. The steps for solving even a fairly simple division problem are numerous, and remembering those steps can be confusing. Memorizing the basic steps is one way to learn division, but using manipulatives or drawing a picture is a really good way to solve a division problem. No matter which method is used to solve the problem it can be mastered with just a little effort.

The Parts

Knowing the names of each part of the division problem is important when learning to divide. The number to be divided is called the dividend. The number that divides the other number is the divisor and the answer is the quotient. If the numbers can't be divided equally and there is some left over, the leftover is called the remainder.
A division problem can be written in the old-fashioned bracket or as a fraction. If it is written as a fraction the dividend is the numerator, which is the number on the top of the fraction, and the divisor is the denominator, which is the number on the bottom of the fraction.

The Steps

The basic steps for solving a division program would be divide, multiply, subtract. If it is a multiple step division problem then bring down and repeat would be added to the end.
For example if the problem is 36/3 the first step would be divide, or figure out how many times 3 will go into the 3 in the number 36. Clearly, the answer would be 1. The second step would be multiplication, so the three would be multiplied by 1 and the answer would be 3. Finally, the 3 would be subtracted from the 3 and the remainder would be 0. Because this is a multiple-step problem, the 6 would be brought down and then you would repeat the first three steps and end up with 3 going into 6 two times, and 2 times 3 equals 6 and 6 minus 6 is 0, so there is no remainder and the result would be 12.

Manipulatives

Use 36 manipulatives to solve the same equation of 36/3. To solve this problem gather 36 items; beans, toothpicks, pebbles or any other items can be used. Now take those 36 items and put them into three equal piles. Now count the number of items in a pile and discover that there are 12 items in each pile.

Draw a Picture

Draw 36 lines or dots. Circle every third dot or line. Count the circled dots. The number of dots or lines circled is 12.
Another way to draw a picture is to draw 36 lines or dots, and then draw a circle around 3 dots. Continue drawing circles around every 3 dots or lines. When all of the dots and lines are circled, count the circles and discover that there are 12 circles.

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