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MATop 3 danger points for long division ⚠️
1) Keep everything lined up!
Think of the numbers as sittting inside of columns, this helps to show which number needs to be carried down. Also make sure you keep the quotient in the correct column.
2) Find the largest multiple!
When you subtract, if the difference is larger than your divisor, you made a mistake. Check the number that you multiplied by and try making it bigger.
3) Don’t forget the remainder!
You haven’t completed the problem if you haven’t written the correct answer. If you have a remainder, don’t forget to include it.
And now my pitch for Partial Quotients!
This process probably feels easier to those of us who learned it when we were younger, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to new learners. Ok, I can follow the algorithm, but why do I subtract? Why should I carry this down?
I find that if I understand WHY something is happening, it’s so much easier to for me to remember to do it. With Partial Quotients it makes sense why we subtract. The “carrying down” happens naturally through that subtraction!
Compare a problem done with long division to one done with Partial Quotients and you will see that the process is the same! Long division is just the short hand version that was developed by mathematicians as a short cut (maybe? I don’t actually have evidence of this) - but Partial Quotients allows mathematical thinking to actually happen and develop.
I didn’t know I felt this way, but the past few weeks I’ve come to really appreciate partial quotients. Feel free to come at me with your long division fandom. I’d love to hear your thoughts and dialogue about this!
#division #fourthgrade #math #mathymama4thgrade
@mathymama
