Why does dividing by a decimal give you a bigger number than before?
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Why does dividing by a decimal give you a bigger number than before?

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 17-03-02] [Hit: ]
4 apples divided between 2 people You have 4 pounds of sugar. How many 2 pound bags can you get from them? Now the decimal. 4 DIVIDED BY 0.2 How many 0.2s are there in 4?......
"gcse" and "maths" are british terms...
i'm american... i'm trying to compare your age to my age when i learned this in school, half a century ago...
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GalileoPi say: If you express the problem in different ways, you get a better idea of what "divided by" actually means,
4 DIVIDED BY 2
How many times does 2 "go" into 4?
How many 2's are there in 4?
How many units of 2 are there in 4 units?
4 apples divided between 2 people
You have 4 pounds of sugar. How many 2 pound bags can you get from them?

Now the decimal.
4 DIVIDED BY 0.2
How many 0.2's are there in 4?
There are 5 in 1, (5 x 0.2 = 1),
so the answer is 5x4 = 20

Ciao
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Ray say: A decimal is the same as a fraction; less than a whole number. When dividing by 1/2 (= .5) you have to invert the fraction and multiply instead of divide; so dividing by 1/2 is the same as multiplying by 2. Thus you get a bigger number.
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Andrea say: 0.........2 is a decimal equivalent of 1/5......... so let's say you had...........................

30 / 0.........2

well, 30 / 0.........2 is the same as 30 / (1/5)......... when you divide by a real number, you are multiplying by its reciprocal, so for this example you would proceed:

30 / 0.........2 = 30 / (1/5) = 30 * 5 = 150.........

another way to do this is to just shift the decimal point one spot right in both the divisor (0.........2 becomes 2) and the dividend (30 becomes 300)......... there, all you have to deal with are whole numbers.........
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Shelby say: When you're dividing a fraction by a whole number you really ain't dividing, you are multiplying a fraction. This is an simple question

For a decimal. It's a whole different world

0.5 ÷5 = 0.1 or 1/10

Thank you for asking this question

Man/Sir
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Johnathan say: 0.2 is a decimal equivalent of 1/5. So let's say you had...
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