Direct Long Division 165
we add to 0 for our next working number. Seven divided by
3 is 2, with 1 remainder, which we carry to the next digit,
0, to get 10. We don’t need to go any further because we
only need an answer to one decimal place; 7.72 rounds off
to 7.7. This is our answer.
Now for the second problem.
41
–1
- 4 6
40 22.^2430
We divide both numbers by 10. Four divides into 22 fi ve
times (5 × 4 = 20), with 2 remainder, which we carry to
the next digit, 4, to make 24. Now multiply 5 (the last digit
of the answer) by –1 to get –5. Subtract the 5 from 24 to
get 19.
We now divide 19 by 4 to get an answer of 4 with 3
remainder. The 3 carried gives us a working number of - Now multiply the previous digit of the answer, 4, by
–1 to get –4. Subtract 4 from 30 to get 26. Four divides
six times into 26, and we can forget the remainder. Our
answer so far is 5.46. We can stop now because we only
need one decimal place. Rounded off to one decimal
place, we have 5.5 as our answer.
With practice, these calculations can easily be done in your head.
Divide the last four digits of your telephone number by diff erent
numbers in your head for practice. Try some other numbers as well.
You will fi nd it is much easier than you imagine.