Question

What will you get when you divide 12 by $\dfrac{1}{3}$?

Answer 1

Hint: When we divide 12 by $\dfrac{1}{3}$ then we have to write 12 in the numerator and $\dfrac{1}{3}$ in the denominator. And the fraction will look as follows: $\dfrac{12}{\dfrac{1}{3}}$. Then 3 in $\dfrac{1}{3}$ will go to the numerator and will multiply to 12 and 1 will be in the denominator of the complete fraction. Then, we will multiply 12 and 3 in the numerator of the fraction.

Complete step-by-step solution:
In the above problem, we are asked to divide 12 by $\dfrac{1}{3}$. To divide that, we are going to write this division in the fraction form by writing 12 in the numerator and $\dfrac{1}{3}$ in the denominator and we get,
$\dfrac{12}{\dfrac{1}{3}}$
Now, according to the fraction property, the 3 written in $\dfrac{1}{3}$ in the denominator will come in the numerator of this fraction and will get multiplied with 12 and we get,
$\dfrac{12\times 3}{1}$
Multiplying 12 and 3 in the numerator we get,
$\dfrac{36}{1}$
We can also write the above fraction as 36.
Hence, when we divide 12 by $\dfrac{1}{3}$ we get 36.

Note: The mistake that could be possible in the above problem is that you might think that we have to divide 12 by 3 or you might interpret the question as we have to multiply 12 by $\dfrac{1}{3}$. The reason for this misinterpretation is that generally, we divide 12 by 3 and we see the division form as:
$\dfrac{12}{3}$
Also, you may be tempted to multiply 12 by $\dfrac{1}{3}$ and we get,
$12\times \dfrac{1}{3}$
So, make sure, you haven’t made this mistake of dividing 12 by 3 or multiplying 12 by $\dfrac{1}{3}$.