6th grade Q1

Dividing a whole number by a decimal with 1 decimal places might seem tricky at first, but there’s an easy method to simplify it!

The trick is to always turn the decimal in the divisor (the number you’re dividing by) into a whole number. This makes the division much simpler and easier to solve!

Let’s learn how to do it step by step.

Step 1: Get rid of the decimal

You do this because division is much easier to handle when the divisor is a whole number.

Step 2: Divide as usual

Example: $50÷0.2$

Step 1: Get rid of the decimal

To get rid of the decimal in $0.2$ you can multiply $0.2$  by $10$ . However, you must also multiply the number you are dividing by 10 to keep the balance:

So, why do you have to multiply both numbers by 10? Dividing 50 by 0.2 can be written as a fraction, like this:

If you multiply the divisor (0.2) by 10, you must multiply the dividend (50) by 10 as well, otherwise the value of the fraction changes:

This is why $50÷0.2$ turns into $500÷2$. Multiplying both the divisor and the dividend by 10 ensures that the division operation remains correct.

Step 2: Divide as usual

Now that both numbers are whole, you can divide them like you normally would. You can use long division if needed. There are videos about long division that you can watch.

And that's your final answer: $50÷0.2=250$