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Division as Repeated Subtraction
Do you remember how the sports teacher divided 12 balls among 4 players? He divided
the balls by giving 1 ball to each player till all the balls were equally distributed.

Observe that while dividing 12 balls, he actually subtracted 4 from 12 three times.

• First he distributed 4 balls. 12 – 4 = 8
• Then he distributed 4 more balls. 8 – 4 = 4

• Finally, he distributed the leftover 4 balls. 4 – 4 = 0
Thus, we can say that he distributed 12 balls in the following way.

12 – 4 – 4 – 4 = 0

We can also say that he subtracted 4 from 12 three times to divide the balls equally among
4 players.
So, 12 ÷ 4 = 3.

This is the way of dividing by repeated subtraction.

Exercise 5.2

1. Divide by repeated subtraction.
(a) (b) (c)
15 ÷ 5 = 3 32 ÷ 8 = 24 ÷ 6 =

15 – 5 = 10

10 – 5 = 5

5 – 5 = 0

So, 15 – 5 – 5 – 5 = 0.

(d) (e) (f)
54 ÷ 9 = 21 ÷ 3 = 16 ÷ 2 =

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