Division of Decimals

The procedure to master is shifting the decimal point in the divisor to the right until it is a whole number, and shifting the point in the dividend by the same amount. Extending the Division, rounding and Fill in the Blank lay the base, and the work widens into partitive and quotitive division, remainders, percentage, per-unit quantity and figure problems.

Placing the decimal point in the quotient at the dividend's original position stands out. In remainder problems, the point in the remainder alone has to be returned to where it started, and writing the remainder of 7.5 ÷ 0.4 as 3 rather than 0.3 is the standard mix-up. With rounding, children also round at a place one step off.

Multiplication of Decimals settled, division comes next, and with it a new move: turning the divisor into a whole number before dividing at all. With both operations now in hand, the unit that follows, Mixed Calculations with Decimals, calls on whichever of the two an expression needs.