Dividing by a

Decimal Number

37.5 1.25

3 7 51 2 5

BUT… the regular division procedure does not work comfortably with decimal

divisors… what can we do ?

37.5 1.25

3 7 51 2 5

will give the same answer as 375 12.5

...since we multiplied BOTH Dividend and Divisor by 10.

…and we can do this multiplication by moving the decimal point one place to the right !

and 375 12.5

3 7 51 2 5 0

will give the same answer as 3750 125

…since we multiplied BOTH Dividend and Divisor by 10 again.

…and we can do this multiplication by moving the decimal point one more place to the right !

and annexing a zero in the ones place.

and 3750 125we can solve in the usual way

3 7 51 2 5 0

3

- 3 7 5

0

0