Math problem...I have no idea what I am doing?

Question

1.31÷ 0.47

Divsor multiplied by power of ten ___
Dividend multiplies by power of ten ___
Quotient ___

I have no idea what to do.

I have worked it out as how I thought it should be but it didnt work.

Well I did end up with 131 and 47 but it always tells me my quotient is wrong.

Answer 1

In order to divide with number containing decimal points you need to "move" the decimal point.

If 1.31 is being divided by 0.47 you must convert the .47 into a non-decimal number by moving the decimal point. This is done by multiplying the number by 100 or 10 to the second power. This action must also be repeated to the dividend to get a correct answer. You must now multiply 1.31 by 100, resulting in 131. For every zero after the number 1, you move the decimal point that many places to the right.

Now we can do the division problem easily.

131 divided by 47.

Just remember this rule. Count the number of places you move the decimal point to the right.
That is how many zeroes you will need to have with the number 1. If you have to move the decimal 4 places, you will need 4 zeroes, or 10 to the fourth power.

Refer to your chart and learn how many zeros for each power. Do you see the pattern?

Answer 2

To remove the decimal point in your particular problem, you have to muliply by the second power of 10(100), not 10. That will give you whole numbers (131 and 47). Moving the decimal point in numbers is, in effect, the same as muliplying them by some power of ten. If you move the decimal point one place to the right, it's the same as muliplying by ten. If you move the decimal point two places, it's the same as multiplying by ten to the second, three places ten to the third, etc.etc. Then do long division and you have your answer. Just remember, when you are removing, or just moving, a decimal point, you have to do the same for both numbers. In other words, if you move the decimal point two places to the right in the divisor, you also have to move the decimal point two places to the right in the dividend. If you have to move the decimal point more places in one of the numbers than you do in the other, use zeroes to make up the difference. For instance, say you want to divide 2.67 by 1.234. Take the number with the most decimal places (1.234) and count how many places you moved the decimal point (3) to get a whole number. Then move the decimal point the same places to the right in the other number. Since 2.67 only has two decimal places, you will have to put a zero at the end to make up the difference. So you end up with 2670 divided by 1234. The reason you do this is because it's generally easier to work with whole numbers than it is to work with numbers that contain decimal places. 131 divided by 47 will give you the same answer as 1.31 divided by .47. These rules only apply to division. Obviously, 131 times 47 is not the same as 1.31 times .47.

Answer 3

1.31 to the tenth = 15. .47 to the tenth = .000526
Quotient is 28,517