Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In abstract algebra, given a magma with binary operation ∗ (which could nominally be termed multiplication), left division of b by a (written a \ b) is typically defined as the solution x to the equation a ∗ x = b, if this exists and is unique. Similarly, right division of b by a (written b / a) is the solution y to the equation y ∗ a = b ...
Long division is the standard algorithm used for pen-and-paper division of multi-digit numbers expressed in decimal notation. It shifts gradually from the left to the right end of the dividend, subtracting the largest possible multiple of the divisor (at the digit level) at each stage; the multiples then become the digits of the quotient, and the final difference is then the remainder.
Some engineering students and engineers carried ten-inch slide rules in belt holsters, a common sight on campuses even into the mid-1970s. Until the advent of the pocket digital calculator, students also might keep a ten- or twenty-inch rule for precision work at home or the office [24] while carrying a five-inch pocket slide rule around with them.
The combination of these two symbols is sometimes known as a long division symbol or division bracket. [8] It developed in the 18th century from an earlier single-line notation separating the dividend from the quotient by a left parenthesis. [9] [10] The process is begun by dividing the left-most digit of the dividend by the divisor.
A scientific calculator is an electronic calculator, either desktop or handheld, designed to perform calculations using basic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) and advanced (trigonometric, hyperbolic, etc.) mathematical operations and functions.
In arithmetic, the galley method, also known as the batello or the scratch method, was the most widely used method of division in use prior to 1600. The names galea and batello refer to a boat which the outline of the work was thought to resemble. An earlier version of this method was used as early as 825 by Al-Khwarizmi.
In algebra, synthetic division is a method for manually performing Euclidean division of polynomials, with less writing and fewer calculations than long division. It is mostly taught for division by linear monic polynomials (known as Ruffini's rule ), but the method can be generalized to division by any polynomial .
In mathematics, divided differences is an algorithm, historically used for computing tables of logarithms and trigonometric functions. [citation needed] Charles Babbage's difference engine, an early mechanical calculator, was designed to use this algorithm in its operation.