Question

Tell what the difference is when you multiply or divide decimals by powers of ten by moving the decimal point.​

Answer 1

The similar shortcut for division works because division is the opposite operation of multiplication—it “undoes” multiplication. If we move the decimal point to the right when multiplying by 10, 100, 1000 and so on, then it is quite natural that the rule for division would work the “opposite” way.

Explanation: