Video Transcript
Calculate 554.9 divided by 6.27, rounding your answer to the nearest hundredth.
Our first step is to divide 554.9 by 6.27. When working with a division problem like this, we don’t want a decimal in our divisor. So we move the decimal place to the right once and then once more. If we move the decimal point in the divisor, we have to also move the decimal point in the dividend once and twice. In the dividend, we’ll need a zero as a placeholder.
Now, we can divide 55490 by 627. We start by asking the question, how many times will 627 go into 554? The answer is zero. And that means we’ll need to figure out how many times 627 can be divided into 5549. It seems like a big task. But we can make it simpler by estimating. We can round 627 to 600. What can I multiply six by that would get me pretty close to 5500? Six times nine equals 54. So 600 times nine equals 5400.
Let’s try nine. Nine times seven equals 63. Write down our three, carry our six. Nine times two equals 18 plus six equals 24. Write down our four, carry our two. Nine times six equals 54 plus two equals 56. We have a problem. 627 does not go into 5449 nine times. It’s too big. So we need to erase some of this and try again.
600 times nine was too much. We’ll have to try 600 times eight. Then, we multiply eight times seven which equals 56. Write down our six, carry our five. Next, eight times two equals 16 plus five equals 21. Write down our one, carry our two. Last, eight times six equals 48 plus two equals 50.
After that, we need to subtract. Starting here, nine minus six equals three. Moving to the left, four minus one equals three, five minus zero equals five, and five minus five equals zero. After that, we bring down a zero and then ask, how many times will 627 go into 5330? In the last round of multiplying, we found out that 627 times eight equals 5016. 627 will go into 5330 eight times. We know that eight times 627 equals 5016.
So we can copy that down and then subtract. In the ones place, we can’t subtract six from zero. So we borrow from our tens place, leaving us with two tens and 10 ones. 10 minus six equals four. In the tens place, two minus one equals one. In the hundreds place, three minus zero equals three and five minus five equals zero. We’ve now hit the decimal place. So we need to bring up the decimal point.
To keep dividing, we’ll need to add a zero in the tenths place and bring it down. We’re continuing the same process by asking how many times will 627 go into 3140. We’ll have to do some more estimating: 600 times what would be equal to 3000? We know that six times five equals 30 and that means 600 times five equals 3000. So let’s try five. We multiply five times seven which equals 35. Write down the five, carry the three. After that, we multiply five times two which equals 10. We add the three we carried over for a total of 13. Write down our three, carry our one. Now, we need to multiply five times six which equals 30 plus the one we carried over for a total of 31.
Now, we need to subtract. In the tens place, we can’t subtract five from zero. So we borrow from our ones place, leaving us with three ones and 10 tenths. 10 minus five equals five, three minus three equals zero, one minus one equals zero, three minus three equals zero. So far so good, but we still only know the division to the tenths place. And that means we need to add another zero and bring it down to divide again.
Here, we’re asking, how many times does 627 go into 50? That would be zero times. Zero times 627 equals zero, 50 minus zero equals 50. And we now have a solution in the hundredths place. However, we want to round to the nearest hundredth. And to round to the nearest hundredth, we need to know what the digit in the thousandths place is. So we add another zero, bring it down, and divide again. How many times does 627 go into 500? Zero times. From here, we can stop because we have enough information to solve the problem.
We know that 554.9 divided by 6.27 equals 88.500 and continues on. But the information we have here is enough to round to the nearest hundredth. There’s a zero in the hundredths place and a zero in the thousandths place. Because the zero in the thousandths place is less than five, we round it down. The zero in the hundredths place stays the same and everything to the left of the hundredths place also stays the same.
Our solution becomes 88.50.
