Dividing decimals explained: 8.46 ÷ 3 in the bracket, step by step
A decimal divided exactly like a whole number, with one extra thing to get right: the point in the answer sits directly above the point in the question. 8.46 ÷ 3 is worked in the bracket with every written square shaded, the steps say what each column is worth — ones, tenths, hundredths — and six divisions follow, three guided and three with the shape of the working alone.
Read the worked example and the steps under it. Then try the six below, and keep the point in line.
Divide a decimal just like a whole number
8.46 ÷ 3. Share the ones first, then the tenths, then the hundredths — like sharing out money: the notes first, then the coins. The point in the answer sits straight above the point in the question.
2.8238.46−624−2406−6R0
8.46 ÷ 3 = 2.82, step by step
1.Estimate first: 8.46 is nearly 9, and 9 ÷ 3 = 3. So the answer is a bit less than 3.
6.Answer: 2.82. Check: 2.82 × 3 = 8.46. And 2.82 is a bit less than 3 — the estimate agrees.
For the grown-up: before they start, ask ‘about how big will it be?’ Then divide as if there were no point, and keep the point in line.
Dividing a decimal by a whole number
NameDate/ 6
Read the worked example and the steps under it. Then try the six below, and keep the point in line.
1..48.16−−−R
2..36.39−−−R
3..65.46−−R
4..49.68−−−
5..89.12−−−
6..57.25−−−
Dividing a decimal by a whole number
NameDate/ 6
Read the worked example and the steps under it. Then try the six below, and keep the point in line.
1.2.0448.16−801−016−16R0
2.2.1336.39−603−309−9R0
3.0.9165.46−5406−6R0
4.2.4249.68−816−1608−80
5.1.1489.12−811−832−320
6.1.4557.25−522−2025−250
What is on this sheet
The first step is an estimate, and it is there to make the point's position a matter of size rather than of counting. 8.46 is nearly 9, and 9 ÷ 3 is 3, so the answer is a bit under 3 — which means 2.82 is right and 28.2 and 0.282 are not, whatever the digits say. A child who checks the answer against the estimate has a way of catching the commonest decimal-division error; a child who counts places has a rule, and rules slip.
Two of the six to try are chosen for the squares a child leaves empty. 5.46 ÷ 6 starts with a nought, which has to be written — 0.91, never .91 — and 8.16 ÷ 4 has a nought in the tenths, which has to be written too or the answer is 2.4. Both are among the guided three, where the shading says the square is written in. The problems run on to a second page, and the dividing-decimals drill pages follow with the grid alone.
The answers were worked out when the problems were, so the key is the same page with the answers drawn in rather than a second attempt at the same questions — there is no way for the two to disagree. The number in the footer is the seed the sheet was built from: it is printed so that the identical sheet can be had again next week, rather than one that merely looks like it.
Change what is on it
This page is one sheet out of a family that can print thousands, and the settings behind it — how many problems, how big the numbers get, how they are laid out, whether there is room to work — are all switches. The builder link at the top of the page carries this sheet’s own settings, so the bench opens on exactly the sheet here rather than on a blank one.
The configuration travels in the address bar rather than on a server, so the link can be bookmarked or sent to somebody as it stands — and what they open is this sheet, down to the seed, rather than another one like it.
The same facts, on screen
A decimal division is a long division with the point carried up, and a long division is a stack of table facts. The Grid drills the facts.
