Understanding Division Vocabulary in Maths

Division vocabulary includes words which we often use while solving all division related problems. Division vocabulary words include division, division symbol, dividend, divisor, quotient, and remainder. Here, we will learn the division vocabulary with interactive examples that will help you to understand and solve division problems easily.

What Is Division?

The term “division” means to split into equal parts or groups. The division is an outcome of “fair sharing” because it splits everything equally.

Division Symbol

The division symbol indicates to divide into equal groups or parts.

We often use the symbol obelus () , or sometimes slash (/) to mean divide:

15 5 = 3

15 / 5 = 3

This is read as “fifteen divided by five equals three”.

Division Example

Let us understand division with an example below:

Example:

There are 12 chocolates in total. Divide these 12 chocolates evenly among 3 of your friends. How will you divide the chocolates?

Solution: To evenly divide a total of 12 chocolates among 3 friends, we will divide 12 by 3.

Image: 12 divided by 3

Image: 12 Chocolates

12 3 = 4

This is read as twelve divided by three equals four.

Hence, each friend will get 4 chocolates.

Example 2:

Look at the fish given below:

Image: 9 fish in 3 groups

Here, 9 fish are swimming into a group of three.

This can be written as: Total 9 fish divided into groups of 3 makes three groups of each.

This will be calculated as: 9 3 = 3

What Is a Dividend?

In division, the dividend is the number to be divided. In other words, a dividend is the whole that is to be splitted or divided into equal parts.

Example:

There are 12 candies that are to be equally divided among 3 children. Here 12 is the dividend.

Image: 12 candies divided equally among 3 children

12 candies 3 children = 4 candies to each child.

12 is the dividend, and 12 3 = 4

What Is a Divisor?

The divisor is the number we divide the dividend by. In other words, a divisor is a number by which another number is divided.

Example:

In 12 3 = 4, 3 is the divisor.

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Divisor

Divisor Representation in Division

In division, divisor is represented as:

Dividend Divisor = Quotient

Example:

On dividing 12 by 3, we get 4. Here 3 is the number that is dividing 20 (dividend) completely into 4 parts and is known as the divisor.

Dividend Divisor Quotient

12 3 = 4

What Is a Quotient?

A quotient is the result that we get after dividing one number by another number. In other words, quotient is the number that we get after dividing dividend by divisor.

Example:

Let us divide 12 by 3.

Image: 12 cupcakes divided equally in small groups of 3

Here, the larger group of 12 cupcakes is known as the dividend. The small equal groups of 3 are known as divisors. The number of cupcakes in each group is termed a quotient. Here, there are 4 cupcakes in each smaller group, which is the quotient.

What Is a Remainder?

The remainder is the number that is left over or remaining when dividing one number by another. In other words, when we are not able to make an equal group or equally share all the objects, we are left with a number known as the remainder.

Remember: The remainder value is always less than the divisor.

Example:

1. We have 9 pencils to share with 2 children.

Solution: But 9 cannot be split into 2 equal groups.

So each child gets 4 pencils and one is left over.

Image: 9 pencils divided equally among 2 children with one pencil left.

9 2 = 4 R1

This is read as 9 divided by 2 equals 4 with a remainder of 1. And we write it as: 9 2 = 4 R1

Do You Know?

• The dividend is the whole number that is divided by another number.

• The divisor is a number that divides the other number (dividend) either completely or with a remainder.

• The quotient is the result obtained after division of two numbers.

• The remainder value is always less than the divisor value.

• If the remainder value is greater than the divisor, it means division is incomplete.

• The remainder value can either be greater, lesser, or equal to the quotient value.

Conclusion

In short, division is a process of dividing a group of things into equal parts, and division vocabulary such as dividend, division symbol, divisor, quotient, and remainder are the terms used in the division process.