Monday, September 19, 2011

Ray's Arithmetic Division 3

37. A boy has 8 cents: how many lemons can he buy, at 2 cents each?

Analysis - He can buy 4, because 4 lemons, at 2 cents each, will cost 8 cents. The boy would give 2 cents for 1 lemon, and then have 6 cents left. After after giving 2 cents for the second lemon, he would have 4 cents left. Then, giving 2 cents for the 3rd, he would have 2 cents left. Lastly, after giving 2 cents for the 4th, he would have nothing left.

The natural method of preforming this operation is by subtraction: but, when it is known how many times 2 can be subtracted from 8, instead of subtracting . 2 four times, say 2 in 8 four times, and 4 times 2 is 8. Therefore, Division may be termed a short method of making many subtractions of the same number. The divisor is the number from which the subtraction has been made; the quotient shows how many subtractions have been made.

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