How do you divide a decimal by a decimal?

Answer 1

Make the divisor a whole number by moving the decimal point to the right and move the decimal point in the dividend to the right the same amount; now do the division.

For example to divide 19.67 by 3.5:

to make 3.5 a whole number, move decimal point 1 place to the right to give 35,

so move decimal point of 19.67 to the right one place to give 196.7

Now do 196.7 divided by 35 to give 5.62

Example: to divide 196 by 2.5:

To make 2.5 a whole number, move the decimal point 1 place to the right to give 25,

So move the decimal point of 196 to the right 1 place to give 1960.

Now do 1960 divided by 25 to give 78.4

When moving the decimal point in the dividend to the right, if you run out of digits before you've moved enough places, add zeros so that the decimal point moves the correct number, for example:

To divide 1234.5 by 2.345:

To make 2.345 a whole number the decimal point must move right 3 places to give 2345

so move decimal point of 1234.5 right 3 places, but after 1 place we have 12345 with 2 more places to move, so add 2 zeros to give 1234500

Now divide 1234500 by 2345.