Name: _________________

-Decomposing the Dividend*Reminder: The dividend is the number that is being divided.
12 / 4 = 3

dividend divisor

Summary: The method of Decomposing the Dividend allows for the dividend to be
broken down into more friendly numbers to be divided by the divisor.
Process: Lets look at an example problem to see how this method works:
Example: There are 212 valentines to be made for an army troop and 5 class
days to make them. How many valentines does the class need to make on each day?
212 / 5 = ?
1. Break the dividend into smaller numbers that can easily be divided by the
divisor.
212 = 100+100+10+2
5
5
2. Divide each new dividend by the divisor.
100/5=20
100/5=20
10/5=2
2/5= is not a friendly equation to divide, so 2 will be our remainder.
3. Add together the quotients from Step 2.
20+20+2= 42.
Dont forget to add on the remainder!
Answer: 212/5 = 42 r2. OR 42 and 2/5ths.
** In order to know if your remainder should stay as a whole number, or convert to a fraction, you
must keep in mind the object you are dividing. For example, if you are dividing money, you could use
a fraction as a remainder because a dollar can be broken down into smaller change. However, if you
are dividing students, you would leave the remainder a whole number because you cannot divide one
student into multiple parts.

In-Class Practice:
1. Meijer is having a sale on Gatorade, 4 for $5. What is the price of one
Gatorade?

2. 100 students are going on a field trip to the museum. There are 9 parent
chaperones to help with this trip. How many students is each parent
chaperone responsible for?

3. Meijer advertised boxes of granola bars 6 boxes for $10. You decide you
only want one box. How much will this one box cost you?
*Hint: you can break the numbers down further than you may first think!

Homework: Use the Decomposing the Dividend method to solve each of the
problems below.
1. The school spirit store is selling winter hats 2 for $11. What is the cost of
one winter hat?

2. 57 apples need to be picked by a 4th grade classroom. They are given 5

baskets to pick all of the apples. How many apples can go evenly into each
basket?

3. A school of 560 students are going to a Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game.
There are 26 buses transporting them to the game. How many students are
on each bus?