how do you divide 17 by 20 without using a calculator?

Answer 1

17/20 is the answer

Answer 2

The old-fashioned way, long division (in your head or on paper):

Start with the diagram for division, which is a short straight line, drawn upwards, and a longer straight line drawn to the right, forming a right angle. The number you are dividing into (17) goes inside the corner you just formed. The 20 goes outside to the left of 17. The answer goes above the top line.

When dividing a larger number into a smaller, your answer will be a number less than one, and when doing long division, the answer is always a decimal. To start, you must add a zero or zeroes to the numer you are dividing into, enough so that the number becomes larger than what you are dividing by. In this case, add one zero to make 170.

To compensate, you must place a decimal point at the beginning of the answer. If you add one zero, just the decimal point to start. For every zero you need to add after the first, you must also place a zero to the right of the decimal point. Here you don't need to.

Okay. To begin, divide 20 into 170. The answer goes above the line. The product of multiplying the answer times 20 goes underneath 170. Subtract to get the remainder, and then repeat the step. If the remainder is less than 20, add a zero to the remainder, then divide. In this case, the subtraction will result in a remainder of zero, meaning you are done. Your answer up top SHOULD be .85

Answer 3

There is a concept known as long division, or doing it in your head, which was used for a few centuries before calculators were invented. Not as long as you might imagine, since math with roman numerals made it impractical to do a lot of stuff we take for granted today.

There's various ways we can reason out the answer

17 divided by 20 is the same as
1.7 divided by 2

1/2 of 1 is 1/2 or 0.5
1/2 of 0.7 is 0.35
add those to get 0.85

Answer 4

First, divide 17 by 2, and get 8.5

Then, because 20 is 2 x 10, you need to move the decimal point to the left of 8.5

The final answer is 0.85

Answer 5

by hand using long division as needed:
Think of it as 17.00/20. Now 17.0 divided by 20 = (.)8 with a remainder of 10, and with the additional 0, 100/20 = 5 (in the next place). So the complete solution is .85

Answer 6

Add a zero to the 17, because 17 is the same as 17.0 and it gives you "room" to work.
Now proceed as though you're dividing 170 by 20, which is 8.5. Finally, as you were actually dividing into 17.0, you "account" for the decimal by moving the decimal in your answer one place to the left. (170 -> decimal one place left -> 17.0) (8.5 -> decimal one place left -> .85)
So 17 / 20 = 0.85
It's a little easier to see written out in long division form, but I hope this was clear. =)

Answer 7

by multiplying first and compensating later

17 x 10 = 170

and 170/20 = 8.5

now compensate by dividing by the 10:

= 0.85

Answer 8

Thankyou all for your answers and opinions!

Answer 9

Pencil and paper.