How to Do Long Division

It is sometimes hard to remember how to do long division because there are so many calculators. It's easy to get stuck without a calculator, so you need to know the simple method to do long division manually.

Instructions

• 1

  Take an easy example, such as 88 divided by 4. You are actually dividing 4 into 88. You take the 4 and divide it into the 80, and your answer is 20. Multiply (20 x 4) and you get 80, then subtract the 80 from 88 and you get 8. You then divide 4 into the remaining 8 and your answer is 2, giving you a final answer of 22.

• 2

  Try a harder problem, such as 2105 divided by 12. You are dividing 12 into 2105. The easiest way to handle this is first multiply 12 by 1 through 9; (12 x 1 = 12), (12 x 2 = 24), (12 x 3 = 36), (12 x 4 = 48), (12 x 5 = 60), (12 x 6 = 72), (12 x 7 = 84), (12 x 8 = 96) and (12 x 9 = 108). Since you have these numbers you can then determine how many times 12 goes into each number.

• 3

  Divide 12 into 2, which is zero, multiply (0 x 12 = 0) and put 0 under 2. Subtract 0 from 2 and you get 2. Bring down the next number, which is 1.

• 4

  Divide 12 into 21, which is 1. Multiply (1 x 12 = 12) and put 12 under the 21. Subtract 12 from 21 and you get 9. Bring down the next number in the problem, which is 0.

• 5

  Divide 12 into 90 and from the multiplication above, we know that it is 7. Multiply (7 x 12 = 84) and put 84 under the 90. Subtract 84 from 90, which is 6. Bring down the next number, which is 5.

• 6

  Divide 12 into 65, which is 5 and then multiply (5 x 12 = 60). Put the 60 under the 65 and subtract it. The remainder is 5. Your answer is 175 with a remainder of 5.

• 7

  Check your work on your calculator but if you follow the above example, you will get the right answer every time.