Question

Can someone remind me of how to divide decimals?

Answer 1

See explanation.

Explanation:

Let me use an example to clarify the process of dividing decimals. Suppose I wanted to divide `0.5` by `0.25`. It would look like this:

`0.5/0.25`

As we can see, there is a decimal in the denominator - `0.25`. How would we get rid of it to make our calculations easier? One simple solution is to multiply both the numerator and the denominator by the power of ten that would make the denominator a whole number. That was a mouthful of a process so let me break it down for you. The denominator, `0.25`, can be multiplied by which power of `10` to make it a whole number?

`0.25*10^2=0.25*100=25`

`0.25` can be multiplied by `100` to become 25!

Now let's go back to the original fraction:

`0.5/0.25`

Seeing as how we can multiply `0.25` by `100` to form `25`, let's go ahead and multiply both the numerator and the denominator by `100` and simplify the answer:

`0.5/0.25*100/100=50/25=2/1=2`

In short, to divide decimals, you convert the denominator into a more manageable format by multiplying it by the power of ten that makes the denominator a whole number. Then, you multiply both the numerator and the denominator by the same power of ten and then simplify the quotient.

Hope this helped!