Division

Example: there are 12 chocolates, and 3 friends want to share them, how do they divide the chocolates?
12 Chocolates

12 Chocolates Divided by 3

Answer: 12 divided by 3 is 4. They get 4 each.

Symbols
÷  /

We use the ÷ symbol, or sometimes the / symbol to mean divide: Let's use both symbols here so we get used to them.

More Examples
Here are some more examples:

Example

12 ÷ 2   =   6

12 divided by 2 equals 6

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Opposite of Multiplying
Division is the opposite of multiplying. When we know a multiplication fact we can find a division fact:

Example: 3 × 5 = 15, so 15 / 5 = 3.

Also 15 / 3 = 5.

Why? Well, think of the numbers in rows and columns like in this illustration: So there are four related facts: Knowing your Multiplication Tables can help you with division!
 * 3 × 5 = 15
 * 5 × 3 = 15
 * 15 / 3 = 5
 * 15 / 5 = 3

Example: What is 28 ÷ 7 ?
Searching around the multiplication table we find that 28 is 4 × 7, so 28 divided by 7 must be 4.

Answer: 28 ÷ 7 = 4

Names
There are special names for each number in a division:

dividend ÷ divisor = quotient

Example: in 12 ÷ 3 = 4:

 * 12 is the dividend
 * 3 is the divisor
 * 4 is the quotient

But Sometimes It Does Not Work Perfectly!
Sometimes we cannot divide things up exactly ... there may be something left over.

Example: There are 7 bones to share with 2 pups.
But 7 cannot be divided exactly into 2 groups, so each pup gets 3 bones, but there will be 1 left over:

We call that the Remainder.