Class 3 — Mathematics
Division: Equal Sharing and Division Facts
Class 3
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to understand division as equal sharing.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to perform division using repeated subtraction.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to relate division to multiplication facts.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to identify the dividend, divisor, and quotient in a division problem.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to solve simple division problems.
Key concepts
When we distribute a collection of items equally among a certain number of groups or people, it is called equal sharing. Division helps us find out how many items each group or person gets.
Division is also a way of repeatedly subtracting the same number from a larger number until nothing is left or the number becomes smaller than the number being subtracted. The number of times we subtract tells us the answer, which is the quotient.
Just like multiplication facts, we have division facts. They are closely related. Division is the inverse (opposite) operation of multiplication. If we know a multiplication fact, we can easily find two related division facts.
In a division problem, the number being divided is called the Dividend. The number by which we divide is called the Divisor. The answer we get after dividing is called the Quotient. The symbol for division is '÷'.
Key facts to remember
- 1Division means equal sharing or equal grouping.
- 2Division is also a process of repeated subtraction.
- 3Division is the inverse operation of multiplication.
- 4The number being divided is the Dividend.
- 5The number by which we divide is the Divisor.
- 6The answer obtained after division is the Quotient.
- 7Any number divided by 1 is the number itself (e.g., 9 ÷ 1 = 9).
- 8Any number (except 0) divided by itself is 1 (e.g., 5 ÷ 5 = 1).
- 9Zero divided by any number (except 0) is 0 (e.g., 0 ÷ 6 = 0).
- 10We cannot divide any number by zero.
Worked examples
Example 1
Share 18 pencils equally among 3 friends. How many pencils does each friend get?
Answer
Each friend gets 6 pencils.
This is an example of equal sharing.
Example 2
Divide 20 by 5 using repeated subtraction.
Answer
The quotient is 4.
The number of times you subtract is the quotient.
Example 3
If 7 × 4 = 28, write two related division facts.
Answer
The two related division facts are 28 ÷ 7 = 4 and 28 ÷ 4 = 7.
Division is the inverse of multiplication.
Common mistakes
- ✗Confusing the dividend and the divisor, leading to incorrect calculations.
- ✗Not knowing multiplication tables well, which makes division difficult and slow.
- ✗Forgetting that 0 divided by any non-zero number is 0.
- ✗Attempting to divide a number by zero, which is not possible.
- ✗Incorrectly counting the number of subtractions when using the repeated subtraction method.
Exam tips
- ★Learn your multiplication tables (from 1 to 10) thoroughly, as they are essential for division.
- ★Read the problem carefully to identify what needs to be divided (dividend) and by how many (divisor).
- ★Always check your division answer by multiplying the quotient by the divisor. If you get the dividend, your answer is correct.
- ★Practice different types of division problems regularly to build confidence and speed.
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