Video Transcript
The Division Symbol: Sharing
Equally
In this video, we’re going to learn
how to use the division symbol to write number sentences that help us find the
number of things in each group when we have two, three, four, five, or 10 equal
groups.
Here are 12 fish. At the moment, they’re all spread
out. But it’s often safer for small fish
like this to swim together in groups. Let’s imagine that these fish are
split up into two equal groups. We could say that the 12 fish are
being divided by two. How many fish will there be in each
group?
We could share our 12 fish one at a
time into two separate groups. We could put one group on either
side. Let’s get sharing. One for the first group and one for
the second group. Another fish for the first group;
that’s now two we’ve got. And another fish goes into our
second group. And we can keep sharing our fish
one at a time into two groups. And with each round of sharing, we
need to make sure that we share the same amount into each group.
There we are; we’ve divided all 12
fish into two equal groups. There are six fish in this group,
and there are also six fish in this group. 12 divided by two equals six.
Now, so far, we’ve written what
we’ve done using numbers and words. But wouldn’t it be good if there
was a symbol we could use that meant divide? Then, we could write a number
sentence or equation to show what we’ve done. Well, there is such thing as a
division symbol. It’s made up of two dots with a
straight line in between. We use this symbol when we want to
show that a number has been divided by another number. And in this video, we’re using it
for sharing into that number of equal groups.
Let’s use this division symbol to
write down what’s happened to our fish. We did have 12 fish. This was the whole amount. It was the number that we started
with. And then, we split this number into
equal groups. And as we’ve said already, another
word for “split” is “divide”. So, we can write the division
symbol here, two dots and a line in between. This shows that we’ve shared out or
split up 12.
How many equal groups did we share
the fish into? There were two groups, weren’t
there? By the way, how do we know our
groups are equal? We know that the word “equal” means
the same. And we know our two groups are
equal because they contain the same number of fish. So, the final number in our
equation is the number of fish in each group. 12 divided by two equals six.
This is exactly the same as what
we’ve written at the top. We’ve just used numbers and symbols
this time to write it as a number sentence. When we start with a whole amount
and we split it into a number of equal groups, the answer will be the number that
there are in each group.
Let’s have a go at using the
division symbol now. We’re going to answer some
questions where we need to divide a number of objects into equal groups.
There are 14 carrots. The carrots will be shared equally
between seven rabbits. Each rabbit will get what
carrots. Find the missing number: 14 divided
by seven equals what.
Our problem begins with 14
carrots. And to help us imagine them, we’re
given a picture that shows them. But something’s going to happen to
these carrots. We’re told that they’re going to be
shared equally. When something is shared equally,
it’s divided. This is a question all about
division.
So, how many groups will the
carrots be shared into? Well, if we look carefully, we can
see who’s doing the dividing here. The carrots are going to be shared
equally between seven rabbits. So, we need to split our 14 carrots
into seven equal groups. To help us do this, let’s sketch
the groups.
Here are seven circles to represent
the seven rabbits, one circle for each rabbit. Now, we need to make sure that
these groups are equal. So, each time we share the carrots,
each group needs to get the same amount. Let’s use counters to represent
carrots.
To begin with, let’s give each of
the seven groups one carrot. So, that’s one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven. There are seven groups, and they
each now have one carrot. But we’ve got more carrots
left. We’re going to need to give each
group another carrot. Now, there are no more carrots left
to share. We’ve divided all 14 of them. And they’ve been split up into
equal groups.
We know that the groups are equal
because if we look at them quickly, we can see that they’ve got the same number of
counters in them. Remember, we said our counters
represented carrots. So, now, we can answer the first
part of our question. Each rabbit will get what
carrots. Well, we managed to put two
counters in each group, didn’t we? So, we know that each rabbit will
get two carrots.
In the final part of our question,
we’re given a number sentence and we need to fill in the missing number. Our number sentence begins with the
number 14. We know this is the whole
amount. This was the number of carrots that
we began with. But then, we have an interesting
symbol, two dots with a line in between them.
Perhaps you were listening
carefully when the text of this question was read out at the very start. If so, you’ll know what this symbol
means. That’s right. It means divided by. We use the division symbol whenever
an amount is shared into equal groups. We started with 14 carrots. They were divided or shared between
seven rabbits. And the missing number in our
number sentence, that’s the answer to our division, is the number of carrots in each
group. Of course, the answer’s two.
If there are 14 carrots and they’re
shared equally between seven rabbits, each rabbit will get two carrots. And we can write this using the
division symbol as 14 divided by seven equals two. Both of our missing numbers are the
number two.
Natalie is preparing breakfast. She made 20 sandwiches and put them
on 10 plates. Choose the calculation that is
equal to the number of sandwiches on each plate. 20 take away 10, 20 divided by two,
20 plus 10, or 20 divided by 10. How many sandwiches are on each
plate?
This problem describes Natalie
who’s preparing a really big breakfast. Perhaps she’s made it for her whole
class because she’s made 20 sandwiches. But you know, she hasn’t just put
them in one big group; she split them up. We know this because we’re told
that she’s put the 20 sandwiches on 10 plates. We could say she’s shared them
out. And we can see a picture to help
us.
In the first part of the problem,
we’re told to choose the calculation that is equal to the number of sandwiches on
each plate. And we’re given four possible
calculations to choose from. Now, we can see in the picture how
many sandwiches are on each plate. But if we didn’t have the picture
to help us, which of these calculations would we use?
To find the answer, we need to
think carefully about what Natalie’s done here. The first thing that she’s done is
to make 20 sandwiches. So, this is the number she begins
with, 20. But then, what does she do? She puts them on 10 plates, doesn’t
she? And if we look at each plate, we
can see that they all have an equal number of sandwiches on. These 20 sandwiches have been
shared out. And another word for “shared” is
“divided.” And the symbol that we use when a
number is divided into equal groups is the division symbol, which is a line with two
dots either side.
How many equal groups has Natalie
made? Well, she shared out her sandwiches
onto 10 plates. So, she’s divided 20 by 10. To find out the number of
sandwiches on each plate then, we need to find the answer to 20 divided by 10. And if we look at our four
calculations, this is one of them.
We might use 20 take away 10 if we
wanted to find out how many sandwiches Natalie had left after making 20 and then
eating 10 of them. 20 divided by two is a division
calculation. But this would be the number of
sandwiches in each group if Natalie shared them onto two plates. And we know that adding is to find
the total of two numbers. So, 20 plus 10 would be to find the
number of sandwiches if Natalie perhaps made 20 sandwiches and then made another
10.
So, that’s how we know the correct
answer is 20 divided by 10. And we can use this to calculate
the number of sandwiches on each plate. 20 divided by 10 equals two. 10 groups of two make 20. So, if Natalie makes 20 sandwiches
and puts them on 10 plates, the calculation that’s equal to the number of sandwiches
on each plate is 20 divided by 10. And the number of sandwiches that
are on each plate is two.
What have we learned in this
video? Firstly, we’ve been introduced to
the division symbol. We know that this is a line in
between two dots. We’ve also learned how to use the
division symbol to write number sentences to find the number of things in each group
when we share an amount into equal groups.