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long division

long division

5 2.5
A way to divide one number by another by writing each step
  • noun
  • /lɔŋ dɪˈvɪʒən/
translation icon : división larga
  • "She wrote a problem in long division on a sheet of paper and handed it to him.

Trust me I can do long division.

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Examples

  • I need to divide them and I'm going to use long division now.

  • Seventy percent of the students who took the exam set up the correct long division and performed it correctly.

    Blog text (27)
  • I never could do long division.

  • - Did you ever learn long division?

  • So what you do is just use long division, find out your quotient.

  • I've always been terrible at long division, too, she thought.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • I spoke slowly, the way Mrs. Richards did when she taught long division.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Help your children gain a solid grounding in math by teaching them the traditional methods, such as long division, vertical multiplication, and the number line.

    Blog text (2)
  • She's had some trouble with mathematics—long division, fractions, but then so did I.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • I struggled to learn long division in the fourth grade.

Antonyms

1 5.5

A quick way to divide numbers in your head with little writing

How Detailed

long division
5 2.5
short division
  • UK
1 5.5

Surface Forms

long division singular

Morphology

long + division

The noun phrase is compositional: 'long' modifies 'division' to indicate a division that is extended or carried out in detail, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a lengthier, stepwise method. This is a transparent, non‑idiomatic technical label (cross‑linguistically similar patterns exist), not a metaphorical or arbitrary meaning.

Etymology

Long division comes from school math: when you write out the whole process for division it takes many lines and looks long on the page. That's why long division means the written, 'step-by-step' way to divide numbers.