In this post, we’re going to learn an easier way to do division problems that have the number zero in their dividend and divisor.
Let’s work with a real-life situation:
“Martin wants to buy a motorcycle that costs $3,500. If he’s only going to pay $70 a month, how many months will it take him to pay the total cost of the motorcycle?”
To solve this problem, we need to divide the total cost of the motorcycle ($3,500) by the amount of money that he’s going to pay each month ($70). In this problem, we have two zeros in the dividend and one zero in the divisor.
To continue, we need to remember that if we multiply or divide the starting elements of a division problem (dividend and divisor) by the same number, the quotient doesn’t change. In other words, the answer is the same, and the remainder is multiplied or divided by that same number.
With this in mind, we’re going to divide our dividend and divisor by 10:
3500 ÷10 = 350
70 ÷10 = 7
Now we’ve simplified our division problem and it’s easier to work with than before.
Our final quotient is 50, that’s the same quotient as the original division problem (3500 ÷ 70 = 50). With these calculations, we can say that…
Martin is going to pay $70 for 50 months in order to finish paying $3,500 for the motorcycle.
We have to be careful while simplifying!
- You always have to divide out the same number of zeros in the dividend as in the divisor.
- You can’t simplify the zeros of different place values, you can only simplify those that are at the end of the dividend and divisor.
- You can simplify more than one zero in each division problem as long as they’re present at the end of both the dividend and divisor.
With these tricks, it is much simpler by reducing the size of the dividend and divisor. We hope that today’s post on dividing with zeros in the dividend and divisor was helpful.
If you want to practice what you’ve learned, and other ways to try different math situations, log onto Smartick and try our method for free.
Learn More:
- Learn How to Solve Division with Decimal Numbers
- How to Solve Double Digit Division
- Long Division: Divide by 3 Digit Numbers
- Divide by a Two Digit Number and an Example
- Learn How to Do a 3-Digit Division Problem
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