Divide decimals by 10, 100 and 1,000

Part ofMathsMultiplying and dividingYear 5

Dividing decimals

Place value blocks with H , T (5 under it), O (0 under it) decimal point Tths, Hths. A sleeping ginger cat is lying on the Hths block.

Dividing is the opposite of multiplying. When you divide a decimal number by 10, 100 and 1000, the place value of the digits in the number decrease.

Place value is the position of a digit in a number. The same digit has a different value at a different position in a number.

You can use a place value chart to help see the value of each digit in a number.

Place value blocks with H , T (5 under it), O (0 under it) decimal point Tths, Hths. A sleeping ginger cat is lying on the Hths block.
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Quiz: Divide decimals by 10, 100 and 1000

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Dividing decimals by 10

Let's look at the rule for dividing decimal numbers by 10.

To divide a decimal by 10, move the digits one place value column to the right.

The number then becomes 10 times smaller.

For example, let's divide 3.95 by 10.

39.5 ÷ 10

You can use a place value chart to help you.

Place value blocks with H, T (3 under it), O (9 under it) decimal point Tths (5 under it), Hths. A row of block sits under the numbers with an arrow showing movement of the 3 to the right of row below it in the O column. The 9 in the upper row of the O column has an arrow to show the movement of the 9 to the right into the Tths column and the 5 in the upper row of the Tths column has an arrow to show the movement of the 5 into the Hths column.

You can see that each digit in the number moves one place value column to the right. Therefore:

39.5 ÷ 10 = 3.95

Let's look at another example.

161.4 ÷ 10

Look at the slideshow to see how the place value of each digit changes when you divide by 10.

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  1. Place value blocks with H (1 under it) T (6 under it), O (1 under it) decimal point Tths (with 4 under it), Hths. A ginger cat lies on the H block.

    The digits of 161.4 are shown in the hundreds, tens and one's column with one digit in the tenths column.

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Dividing decimals by 100

Dividing decimals by 100 is the same as dividing by 10 and then dividing by 10 again.

Let's try an example:

312 ÷ 100

Look at the slideshow below to see how the place value of each digit changes when you divide by 100.

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  1. Place value blocks with H (3 under it) T (1 under it), O (2 under it) decimal point Tths, Hths.

    To divide by 100, you move the digits two places to the right.

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Dividing decimals by 1000

To divide by 1000, you move the digits three places to the right.

Let's look at an example:

40 ÷ 1000

Look at the slideshow below to see how the place value of each digit changes when you divide by 1000.

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  1. Place value blocks with H, T (4 under it), O (0 under it) decimal point Tths, Hths. A ginger cat lies on the T block.

    A way to help you remember how many places the digits need to move is by looking at the zeros in 10, 100 and 1000. There are 3 zeros in 1000, so you need to move the digits 3 places to the right to divide by 1000.

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Example 1

Dividing decimals by 10, 100 or 1000 is useful in everyday life. It can be used to convert measures, such as centimetres to metres, grams to kilograms and millilitres to litres.

Amir smiling and holding a bottle of water. He is stood next to a table with a jug on it. The jug is half full of water.

A bottle holds 3250 millilitres. What is this amount in litres?

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Example 2

Anika has collected a mixture of pounds and pennies.

Annika sat at a table counting piles of coins.

Anika has worked out that there is 723 pence altogether, but what is that amount in pounds?

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More on Multiplying and dividing

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