Long Division with Larger Divisors

Short Course 

This is a short course (slide show) in long division with larger divisors. All of the examples in this show use tow or more digits in the divisors.  

Division Calculations with Larger Divisors

In the Long Division page, we introduced a simple method for dividing with multi-digit divisors.  Instead of using the first digit of the divisor, we mentally add 1 (or more) to the column in the top abacus. Then we multiply the result of this division by each digit of the original divisor and subtracted the product from the dividend.  This process continues until the dividend is 0 or less than the divisor. Since we are using a higher divisor, the result of the division may need to be added in the same column of the previous division.  We call this upward adjustment. 

When the first digit of the divisor is nine (9), we will not be able to use a higher divisor.  In this situation, we will need to divide the first digits of the dividend by 9 but reduce the quotient by 1. Then we follow the same process division process.  This lower quotient is entered into the correct column of the top abacus.  Next, we will multiply this number by each digit in the divisor and subtract it from the dividend. This process continues until the dividend is 0 or less than the divisor. Occasionally you may need to upwardly adjust the quotient.

Examples

Now, let’s look at some more examples of this process. In these examples, the dividend will have many digits, the divisor will have 3 or more digits and the remainder will be a decimal (to 3 places). Click on the link to show the steps to calculate the answer. 

• Example:  474 divided by 177

• Example:  5,537 divided by 486

• Example:  85,096 divided by 203

• Example:  26,645 divided by 321

• Example:  52,288 divided by 682

• Example:  570,491 divided by 943

• Example:  7,008 divided by 4,003

• Example:  25,986 divided by 5,121

• Example:  1,411,805 divided by 5,941

Build Your Skill

Now you are ready to try some calculations on your own. Click on the problems and their solutions to test your skill.