Question

Two fifth graders solved 400,000 divided by 800. Carter said the answer is 500, while Kim said the answer is 5,000.

a. Who has the correct answer? Explain your thinking.
b. What if the problem is 4,000,000 divided by 8,000? What is the quotient?

Answer 1

a) Carter

b)500

Explanation:

a)

Correct answer:

800)400,000(500

400,000

0

When 400,000 divided by 800 then we will get 500.

So Carter answer is correct and Kim answer is wrong.

b)

8,000)4,000,000(500

4,000,000

0

Here quotient is 500 and remainder is 0.

So the quotient is 500.

Answer 2

a. Carter is correct. (See explanation).

b. The quotient is
`500` (The quotient of
`400,000` divided by
`800` and the quotient of is
`4,000,000` divided by
`8,000` are equal).

Explanation:

a. Carter is correct.

The dividend
`400,000` and the divisor
`800` have two zeros in common, so we can eliminate those zeros. Then:

`4,000/8`

We know that the quotient obtained by dividing
`40` and
`8` is
`5`:

`40/8=5`

Since
`4,000` has two more zeros than
`40`, we must place two zeros in the quotient. Then:

`=500`

b. The dividend
`4,000,000` and the divisor
`8,000` have three zeros in common, so we can eliminate those zeros. Then:

`4,000/8`

Notice that this is the same as the exercise "a". So the quotient will be the same.

Let's check. We know that:

`40/8=5`

Since
`4,000` has two more zeros than
`40`, we must place two zeros in the quotient. This is:

`=500`