Use Place Value to Divide by Powers of 10

If we want to divide a number by 10, there is a simple rule to follow:

Shift every digit 1 place value to the right.

Using a place value chart helps.

Example

613,090 ÷ 10

We just shift every digit 1 place to the right. The digit in the ones column would be shifted after the decimal point into the tenths column, but since it is a zero we can ignore it. 

So 613,090 ÷ 10 = 61,309

If we want to divide by 100, we simply shift everything 2 places right.

Example

450,162,000 ÷ 100

This time, we have shifted every digit 2 places right. The last three digits are zeros, two of them would move to after the decimal point, but we need to keep the third as it's in the ones column.

So 450,162,000 ÷ 100 = 4,501,620

And the pattern continues - dividing by 1,000 means we just shift every digit 3 places right!

Let's test our skills with these questions.