Dividing 1-Digit Number

Here we will learn dividing 1-digit number.

It is Emily's birthday party. Emily has bought 12 balloons. Emily gives 1 balloon each to 4 of her friends John, David, Olivia and Sophia. they are helping her to decorate her room.

Emily has now 8 balloons with her. She gives 1 more balloon to each of her 4 friends again. She is left with 4 balloons now.

She decides to give 1 more balloon to all. Now, they have 3 balloons. Emily has got no more balloons left with her.

12 balloons have been equally distributed among 4 friends. Each of then have got 3 balloons.

Equal distribution is called division. The division fact is written with division symbol.

12 ÷ 4 = 3

Note: We use symbol '÷' for division.

We know that the repeated subtraction of the same number is expressed in short by division.

If there are 4 collections of lemons each having 2 lemons, how many lemons are there in total?

By the process of subtraction 2 is subtracted 4 times from 8 as 8 = 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 lemons.

By the process of division 8 ÷ 2 = 4 lemons

Thus, to get the answer we follow two process:

(i) Repeated subtraction and

(ii) Division

Hence, division and repeated subtraction of the same number are the same process.

Examples for dividing 1-digit number:

(i) Suppose a doctor gives his patient 8 tablets of medicine and asks him to take 2 tablets daily. How many days will the medicine continue?

First day the patient takes 2 tablets, 8 – 2 = 6 tablets will remain.

Second day the patient will take 2 tablets, 6 – 2 = 4 tablets will remain.

Third day the patient will take 2 tablets, 4 – 2 = 2tablets will remain.

Fourth day the patient will take 2 tablets, 2 – 2 = 0 tablets will remain.

Thus, 8 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 = 0

or, 8 – (2 + 2 + 2 + 2)

or, 8 – 8 = 0

The medicine lasts 4 days, as 2 is subtracted repeatedly 4 times from 8.

We see 2 is subtracted 4 times from 8.

We can express it as 4 × 2 = 8 or 8 ÷ 2 = 4 It is said 8 divided by 2 = 4 or, 8 ÷ 2 = 4

(ii) There are 9 packs of cookies. How many children can get cookies, if 3 cookies are given to each child.

First child gets 3 packs of cookies so, 9 – 3 = 6 cookies remain

Second child gets 3 packs of cookies so, 6 – 3 = 3 cookies remain

Third child gets 3 packs of cookies so, 3 – 3 = 0 cookies remain

9 – 3 – 3 – 3 = 0

or, 9 – (3 + 3 + 3) = 0

or, 9 – 9 = 0

3 packs of cookies are taken out to give the number of children as 3.

So, 3 times 3 = 9 or, 3 × 3 = 9 or, 9 ÷ 3 = 3 Thus, 9 – 3 – 3 – 3 = 0 is the same as 9 ÷ 3 = 3.

Hence, repeated subtraction and division are the same process.

In actual process the dividend is divided by the divisor in the following ways:

The sign, ‘÷’ is called the sign of division as ‘×’ is the sign of multiplication, ‘+’ is the sign of addition and ‘-‘ is the sign of subtraction.

Now 8 ÷ 2 = 4 is shown below.	Similarly, 9 ÷ 3 = 3 is shown below.

Thus, we learned how the actual process is used when the dividend is divided by the divisor to find the quotient and remainder.

2nd Grade Math Practice

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