6th Grade Math: Long Division Problems and Practice Drills

What Kinds of Division Problems Do 6th Graders Study?

In 6th grade, the majority of division problems involve fractions. The first step for all fraction division problems is to transform them into multiplication problems. To do this, turn the second fraction into a reciprocal fraction by flipping it upside down. For instance, the problem 3/4 ÷ 5/1 would look like this: 3/4 x 1/5.

Sixth graders likely have been doing long division problems for 2-3 years, so any problems they face should be challenging. For example, you might present your child with problems that have 2-digit divisors (the number by which another number is being divided) and 4-digit dividends (the number that is being divided). For an extra challenge, you can encourage him or her to turn the remainder into a fraction or decimal.

6th Grade Division Problems by Concept

Long Division

1. 3,012 ÷ 39

Problems with large numbers like this may be intimidating for some students. However, you can remind your child that the steps for long division problems are the same, regardless of how many integers there are.

Your child should begin this problem by using the trial-and-error method. In other words, what number times 39 will equal a number that's close to 3,012? If your child multiplies 39 x 77, it equals 3,003, which is as close to 3,012 as possible.

The remainder for this problem is 9, which can be rewritten as 9/39 or the decimal 0.23. The final answer is 77 9/39 or 77.023.

2. 2,000 ÷ 25

This problems is less complicated because it doesn't involve a remainder. The dividend (2,000) can be evenly divided by the divisor (25). The answer is 80.

3. 2,508 ÷ 37

Your child should multiply 37 x 67, which equals 2,479. There's a remainder of 29, which can be written as 29/37 or the decimal 0.78. The answer is 67 29/37 or 67.78.

Fractions

1. 4/3 ÷ 5/6

Remind your child to turn the second fraction (5/6) into a reciprocal fraction by flipping it upside down. Then, he or she should multiply the two fractions. In this problem, 5/6 becomes 6/5, so the problem should look like this: 4/3 x 6/5. By multiplying across, your child should come up with the answer 24/15.

2. 2/3 ÷ 20/8

Your child should follow the same steps as above so that the problem reads 2/3 x 8/20. It may help your child to think of fraction multiplication problems as (2 x 8)/(3 x 20) = 16/60 = 4/15.