Arithmetic Grade Four

Lesson Fifty-two: Remainders

Think about the following word story problem: 

	Sue was told by her mother that she had to take
	38 cupcakes and place six on each of six plates
	to be passed out at a party and that she would 
	get to keep the left-over cupcakes. How many
	cupcakes did Sue get to keep?
We can translate this word story problem into a number problem like this: 

	38 / 6 = ?

	Sue will use 36 cupcakes to fill six dishes with six
	cupcakes each. Since she started with 38 cupcakes, she
	will have 2 cupcakes left over and so she will get
	2 cupcakes.
Usually we write the answer to this problem like this: 

	38 / 6 = 6 r2
Here's another word story example: 

	Joe has a stack of 43 candy bars. He has been
	given the job of putting an equal number of
	candy bars into each of 4 boxes. His father
	said that he could keep the left over candy
	bars for himself. How many candy bars will
	Joe get?
We can translate this word story problem into a number problem like this: 

	43 / 4 = ?

	Joe will put a total of 40 candy bars into the
	4 boxes since 10 x 4 = 40. He would have to have
	44 candy bars to put 11 in each box (11 x 4 = 44).
	So, Joe will have 3 candy bars left over since
	43 - 40 = 3.
Usually we write the answer to this problem like this: 

	43 / 4 = 10 r3
Here are a few sample problems for you to look at before you go on to the quiz on the next page: 

	47 / 6 = 7 r5		82 / 9 = 9 r1

	35 / 8 = 4 r3		40 / 6 = 6 r4

	21 / 4 = 5 r1		33 / 4 = 8 r1

Continue to next page of lesson