(b) Division of a decimal.
Example 4: Divide 10.6603 by 7.85.
Thus:
| 785 | ) | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6. | 0 | 3 | ( | 1.358 Ans. | ||
| 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
| 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||
| 6 | 2 | 8 | 0 | ||||||||
Here 7.85 is 785 hundredths, and 10.6603 is 1066.03 hundredths; so that the required quotient is obtained by dividing 1066.03 by 785.
Therefore, to divide by a decimal, move the point as many places to the right as will make the divisor a whole number; move the point in the dividend the same number of places to the right. Then proceed as in Example 3.
Example 5: Divide 176.4 by .00012.
| 12 | ) | 17640000 |
| Ans. | 1470000 | |
Here, to make the divisor a whole number, we have to move the point 5 places. Therefore we also move the point 5 places to the right in the dividend, first writing enough 0’s after the 176.4 to enable us to do so.
To divide a decimal by 10, 100, etc.