Question Video: Approximating to the Nearest Tenth the Result of Dividing Decimals by Integers Mathematics • 5th Grade

Video Transcript

Calculate 46.32 divided by 59, rounding your answer to the nearest tenth.

46.32 is the dividend; 59 is the divisor. 59 cannot be divided into 46. So in the ones place, we put a zero, bring up our decimal, and then ask how many times does 59 go into 463. I’m thinking 59 is about 60 and 463 is about 420. I know that 60 times seven equals 420. So I’m going to estimate that 59 will go into 463 seven times.

From there, we need to multiply seven times nine equals 63. Write down your three; carry your six. We multiply seven times five, which equals 35. And then we need to add the six we carried over. 35 plus six is 41. From there, we subtract three minus three equals zero, six minus one equals five, and four minus four equals zero.

We need to bring down our next digit and then ask how many times does 59 go into 502. We’ve already said that 59 times seven equals 413. 502 is more than that. We could go up by one and try multiplying 59 times eight. We need to multiply eight times nine, which equals 72. Write down the two; carry the seven.

After that, we need to multiply eight times five. Eight times five is 40, plus the seven we carried over equals 47. From there, we can subtract two minus two is zero and 50 minus 47 equals three.

Right now, we have a remainder. We could add a zero and bring it down and continue dividing. But remember that our answer asked us to round to the nearest tenth. Do we have enough information to do that? Right now, we have 0.78, and that is enough information to round to the nearest tenth.

Because there is an eight in the hundredths place, we round the tenths place up. Our seven in the tenths place becomes an eight. And we bring down our decimal and our units place. When you divide 46.32 by 59 and round your answer to the nearest tenth, you get 0.8.