Thread: This way of division does not give exact answers?

327 divided by 7

7 does not go into 3, 7 goes into 32, 4 times with 4 remainder, put the 4 remainder ontop of the 7, it becomes 47, 7 goes into 47, 6 times with 5 remainder.

So why is the answer 46.7, why is it not 46.5?

Is this way of division wrong?

The answer is 46 and 5/7.

If you want a decimal write 327.000000 and carry one dividing. You will get 46.714285 714825 714825.....

This is the same error you were making in your other post. The fact that the remainder is a given digit does NOT mean that digit is part of the quotient. As a tutor said, the fact that you get 46 with remainder 5 means that the quotient is 46 and 5/7. To get more digits append 0s and keep dividing.

In fact, the only fractions that give "terminating" decimals are those whose denominators have only factors of 2 and 5, such as 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/4, 1/8, 1/25, etc.

Thanks.