ICSE Class 10 Division of Decimal Numbers - Common Mistakes to Avoid

CISCE analysis of pupil performance 2023, has highlighted that students make mistakes while dividing decimal numbers with 3 or 4 digits. This blog explains how to divide decimal numbers with 3 or 4 digits.

By Topperlearning Expert 20th Feb, 2024 | 02:37 pm

Overview

Operations on decimal numbers becomes bit tricky, when it comes to dividing decimal numbers. Students often get confused on how to divide decimal numbers. Some of the common division involving decimal numbers include:

Division of decimal numbers by 10, 100 and 1000
• Dividing by 10 shifts the decimal point by 1 place to the left, for example: 31.5 ÷ 10 = 3.15
• Dividing by 100 shifts the decimal point by 2 places to the left, for example: 31.5 ÷ 100 = 0.315
• Dividing by 1000 shifts the decimal point by 3 places to the left, for example: 31.5 ÷ 1000 = 0.0315
Division of two decimal numbers
Example:
30.94 ÷ 0.7
Step 1:
Note the number of digits after the decimal point.
30.94 has 2 digts after the decimal point and 0.7 has 1 digit after the decimal point.
Step 2:
Convert the decimals to whole numbers by multiplying both decimals with the maximum power of 10 (depending upon the maximum number of digits after the decimal). Here we multiply 30.94 and 0.7 with 100, since the maximum number of digits after the decimal is 2.
Step 3:
Perform the division of obtained whole numbers.
Here it will be 3094 ÷ 70, which is equal to 44.2

Some mistakes made by Students

Putting decimal point at wrong place after division
Forgetting to put decimal point in the final answer
Failing to round off answers to one decimal place
Confusion in dividing decimal numbers with 3 or 4 digits

Steps for Division of a Decimal Number

Consider the division of 234.453 by 5.

Step no.	Instruction	Working
1	Represent the division of 234.453 by 5 in the normal way, as we do with non-decimal numbers
2	Start with the division of non decimal part, which in this case is 234, so 234 ÷ 5 gives 46 as the quotient and the remainder as 4.
3	Now bring the first digit after the decimal down for calculation and don’t forget to add a decimal in the quotient. Here we bring 4 down, and add a decimal after 6 in the quotient.
4	Then continue the division process as usual, till you reach the last digit.
5	Once you have reached the last digit, add a zero both in the remainder and quotient.
6	After adding the zero, proceed with the division as usual, and stop if you get the remainder as zero. But if the remainder can’t be made zero then stop after one step of division. Here we can divide 234.453 completely by 5.

Examples for Practice:

Solve the following

0.0954 ÷ 8
Answer: 0.011925
23.6542 ÷ 3
Answer: 7.88473
7.3456 ÷ 6
Answer: 1.22426
634.4532 ÷ 7
Answer: 90.63617
5.3457 ÷ 5
Answer: 1.06914

Conclusion

In short, practice of dividing decimal numbers with 3 or 4 digits will help students to have a firm grip on calculations, and also help them avoid any calculation errors.

Hence we suggest solving more and more examples involving decimals in calculation.

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