Math Story : Long Division With Remainder
Uncle Math’s Telescope
Cirho : Uncle Math’s telescope broke down, how about presenting him with a new telescope?
Cirha : That is right. He has always been so helpful and has taught us so many things. We should definitely help him.
Squarho and Triho : Yes, this is a great idea!
Cirho : According to this pamphlet, a telescope costs 5,971 coins.
Cirha : Such a big number! How much money should each of us contribute to buy the telescope?
Triho : I know someone who can help us, Miss Long Division! She can help us find out the exact amount.
Triho : Hello, Miss Long Division. Thank you for accepting our request to help us. Ms Long Division : Hello! I am happy to help you all! What do you want me to divide?
Cirho : We want to present Uncle Math with a telescope, and we need to find out the amount each one of us should contribute.
Miss Long Division : Tell me the amount required to buy the telescope.
Cirha : The telescope costs 5,971 coins.
Miss Long Division : Okay, let us begin. Who can tell me the number by which 5,971 should be divided?
Triho : Four! As we are four in number.
Miss Long Division : Exactly! Before we begin, let me tell you all about me. There are 4 important parts of me: dividend, divisor, quotient and remainder. A dividend indicates the number that is being divided. The divisor indicates the number by which the dividend should be divided into equal parts. The quotient indicates the result of the division and the remainder is the number which is leftover after the complete division, understood?
Miss Long Division : Triho tell me what is the dividend here in our case?
Triho : 5,971 is the dividend.
Miss Long Division : Correct Triho! Cirho tell me what is the divisor here?
Cirho : As we are dividing the total coins by 4, the divisor is 4.
Miss Long Division : Correct! Squarho tell me what is the quotient here?
Squarho : I don’t know Miss Long Division. What is it?
Miss Long Division : 5,971 is the dividend and 4 is the divisor. Quotient is the number that we will find out soon. Okay, let us begin. We need to follow these steps to find out the quotient.
Miss Long Division : Step 1 : Take the first digit of the dividend from the left. Step 2 : Then divide it by the divisor and write the answer on top as the quotient. Step 3 : Multiply the latest digit of the quotient with divisor and write the result below the first digit of the dividend.
Miss Long Division : Step 4 : Subtract the result from the first digit of the dividend and write the difference below it. Step 5 : Bring down the next digit of the dividend if present.
Miss Long Division : Step 6 : Repeat the same process.
Miss Long Division : Step 7 : And repeat until all the digits of the dividend are used.
Cirha : Oh no! What do we do with this number 3? This number is not divisible by 4.
Miss Long Division : We call this number remainder. As it has remained after the division. Do not worry, you all can bring 1,492 each, and I will pay the remaining 3 coins.
Triho : I remember that we did not get any remainder last time, while dividing fruits.
Miss Long Division : Yes, Triho. It depends on the divisor and dividend. Many times the remainder can be 0 as well.
Miss Long Division : Kids, there is a trick to see if the division is correct or not. For that, you have to multiply the divisor and quotient and add the remainder to the product. If the sum equals the dividend, the division is correct.
Cirha, Cirho, Squarho and Triho : [excitedly]Wow! That is so cool, Miss Long Division.
Cirha, Cirho, Squarho and Triho : Thank you, Miss Long Division.
Cirha : You helped us with the division and even contributed 3 remaining coins. You are really awesome.
Miss Long Division : Welcome kids! I am happy to help.
Uncle Math : Thank you so much for the telescope, this is exactly what I wanted. You all have always been so helpful.
We Learnt That…
Let’s Discuss
Please refer this guide by Fun2Do Labs for teaching long division to kids :
