Technical Mathematics, Sixth Edition

1.4. Division

1.4.1. Definitions

The dividend, when divided by the divisor, gives us the quotient.

A quantity a/b is also called a fraction, where a is called the numerator and b is called the denominator. It can also be referred to as the ratio of a to b. Fractions and ratios are covered in detail in later chapters.

1.4.2. Dividing by Calculator

To divide by calculator, enter the dividend, then press , then enter the divisor and press , or , depending on your particular calculator.

TI-83/84 screen for Example 37.

Example 37: Here is the screen for the division of 1305 by 145. When we multiplied two integers, we always got an integer for an answer. This is not always the case when dividing, as shown in the next example.

Example 38: When we divide 2 by 3, we get 0.666666666... . We must choose how many digits we wish to retain and round our answer. Rounding to, say, three significant digits, we obtain 2 ÷ 3 ≈ 0.667 Here it is appropriate to use the ≈ symbol.

1.4.3. Dividing Signed ...