Strayer-Upton Practical Arithmetic Question

[Gwenny]

So, I am working through the first book in the Strayer-Upton math series, Practical Arithmetic. Yes, I'm 33, and I still need help.

 

I'm on page 148 and the topic is remainders in dividing by 5. The instructions are "Divide mentally. Give only quotient and remainder." The example is "in 48 divided by 5, say "9, remainder 3." What would be the answer to 1 divided by 5? It's a 3rd grade book, so the answer can't be 0.2. I'm stumped.

 

By the way, the questions are written out in the normal division way, but I don't know how to write it that way on the computer. So I wrote it out like it would spoken.

 

Please help me out. I need to finish 3rd grade math before my daughter gets there!

 

Gwen

[LivingHope]

Hello, Gwen.

 

Since the Practical Arithmetic series really is a self-teaching textbook, the exercises move slowly to provide mastery. Up to page 148 in the red book, decimals and fractions have not fully been taught, assuming that the student will consider the problem 1 divided by 5 as in whole numbers.

 

So, the answer is simply zero with a remainder of 1 because 5 cannot go into 1 evenly and will then have the one as the remainder. Don't let that zero fool you...the 5 cannot fit so the 1 remains. Just like the 9 divided by the 5 in the same row...5 goes into 9 once with a remainder of 4. Does that help?

 

My children work through both the red and brown Practical Arithmetic books before moving onto pre-algebra. We have supplemented with Life of Fred...but Practical Arithmetic is meaty enough. We love it here.

 

 

Janell

[Gwenny]

Janell,

Thank you! That's just what I needed! I'm really loving the way math is taught in this book. I've learned so much and I wish I was taught this way. I'm glad to see that you've had success with these books.

Gwen

[happybeachbum]

I know this thread is old but these books are wonderful.  I bought all of them a couple of months ago.