본문으로 바로 이동 / Skip to content

Divide by unbundling what remains

Share tens, unpack leftover tens into ones, and account for the remainder in the original total.

Begin with the activity ↓

How can three people share 84 objects?

Share whole tens first. Open the leftover tens and share those ones with the original loose ones.

84 pencils are eight tens and four ones. Three people can each take two tens, leaving two tens. Stopping here would leave twenty pencils unshared.

Open the two leftover tens into twenty ones and combine them with the original four ones: 24. Sharing those among three gives eight each. Each person receives two tens and eight ones, or 28.

Thus 84÷3=28. Bringing a digit down in long division represents changing unshared larger bundles into smaller units and combining them with matching units; it is not arbitrary digit concatenation.

With 83 pencils, each person receives 27 and two remain. Check 27×3+2=83. Without adding the remainder, the calculation does not account for the whole starting amount.

If the remainder were at least the number of people, three, everyone could get one more. After equal sharing as far as possible, the remainder is less than three. For indivisible objects, that remainder is part of the answer.

Listen one paragraph at a time
1 / 5

2 / 5

3 / 5

4 / 5

5 / 5

If a leftover ten looked like one loose object

Draw ten dots inside the leftover rod. One leftover ten and two ones represent twelve objects, not three.

Now change it yourself

Choose the total and people. Share tens, unpack leftovers, then check share × people + remainder.

Each gets 2 tens; 2 tens remain.

Person 1
2 tens
Person 2
2 tens
Person 3
2 tens

Here a nonnegative whole-object count is shared among a positive whole number of people. Division by zero is not an available activity.

Try with paper and objects

Draw 83 as eight tens-rods and three dots. Share across three plates, converting each leftover rod to ten dots.

Check your idea with another example

Check your idea 1

Sharing 72 among three leaves one of the seven tens unshared. What next?

Check your idea 2

Sharing 95 among four gives a share of 23 and remainder 3. Which check is correct?

Try a different setting

Pack 68 blocks into bags of five. How many full bags and leftover blocks?

Write an answer yourself

Examples: 12 · 1/2 · 1 1/2 · 0.5. Equivalent fractions need not be reduced. Use the regular keyboard for the / symbol.

Return to the explanation
Compare with an explanation

24 · After two tens each, share the remaining ten and six ones to get four more each.

Does your explanation include these ideas?

Speak, point or draw on paper. Explain the reason, not just the numerical answer.

Continue, or pause here

Choose one whole, then read a fraction as equal parts and the number of those parts taken.