Level 5-6 Numbers - Long Multiplication and Division

Multiplication and division - don't you just love them? Especially long multiplication and long division! Well, whether you like them or not, they play an important part in KS3 Maths so it's best that you understand them.

To do long multiplication we work out the 10s, 100s and 1,000s separately. So, to calculate 154 x 23 first multiply 154 x 3. Then work out 154 x 2 and put a 0 on the end. Finally, line up your two answers and add the top figures to the bottom ones. You should have 462 and 3,080 which total 3,542.

Long division works in a similar way. To calculate 3,542 ÷ 23 first of all work out 35 ÷ 23 = 1 remainder 12. Any remainders become the first digits in the next number to divide. So, next we divide 124 (the 4 is the 3rd digit in 3,542) by 23 and get 5 remainder 9. Finally we divide 92 (the remainder with the 2 from 3,542) by 23 to get 4. So, our answer is 154.

Hopefully all that made sense! Now try some long division and multiplication yourself!