What To DoWith Remainders

By the end of this lesson, you will know four different ways to handle a remainder in

real life.

Problems with a remainder require you to be extra thoughtful. This activity will teach you how to deal with remainders in real life.

My division problem has a remainder. Now what do I do?

Once you’ve got a remainder,

think of DURT:

•Drop or ignore the remainder

•Use the remainder. It’s your answer!

•Round your answer up.

•Turn the remainder into

a fraction.

Drop or Ignore the Remainder

Mrs. Bushell is organizing her recipes into a binder. Exactly 4 recipes fit on each page. She has 29 recipes. How many pages will Mrs. Bushell fill?

29 ÷ 4 = 7 R 1What does the 1 represent?

The 1 is the extra recipe that will go on a new page, but that page will not yet be filled.

What does the 7 represent? The number of pages that will be filled.

In order to answer the question, I need to DROP the remainder.

Mrs. Bushell will fill 7 pages.

Use the Remainder. It’s your Answer!

The students in Miss Joseph’s class are forming groups of 4 for a math game. There are 29 students in her class. How many students will be left after groups of 4 are formed?

29 ÷ 4 = 7 R 1What does the 7 represent? The number of groups that

are formed. What does the 1 represent? The number of students who

will be left after the groups are formed. In order to answer the question, I need to USE the

remainder. There will be 1 student left after groups are formed.

Round Up Mrs. Pascarella is buying cupcakes for her class. The cupcakes come in boxes of 4. There are 29 students in her class. How many boxes of cupcakes does Mrs. Pascarella need to buy if she wants to give each student a cupcake?

29 ÷ 4 = 7 R 1

What does the 7 represent? At least 7 boxes of cupcakes will need to be ordered.

What does the 1 represent? The number of students who would not get a cupcake if only 7 boxes of cupcakes are ordered.

I need to ROUND UP so that everyone gets a cupcake. Instead of 7 boxes of cupcakes, she needs to order 8 boxes.

8 X 4 = 32, so 8 boxes will be enough cupcakes

Turn the Remainder into a Fraction

Miss Decof has a long piece of paper. The paper is 29 inches long. She wants to cut the piece of paper into 4 equal pieces.

29 ÷ 4 = 7 R 1What does the 7 represent? Each piece will need to be at

least 7 inches long.What does the 1 represent? 1 inch of paper. In order to get 7 equal pieces, we need to cut the left over

1-inch piece of paper into 4 equal parts (each is ¼ inch long).

So each person gets 7 ¼ inches of paper.

Boat Ride

At an amusement park, 16 people are waiting in line for a water ride. Each boat holds 6 people. How many boats will be completely filled?

Bonus: Which of the DURT strategies did you use?

Apples

Miss Eddy is giving out 13 apples to 4 of her students. She wants each student to get the same amount of apple. How much apple should each student get?

Hint: Cut the leftover apple(s) into enough pieces for each of her students

Bonus: Which of the DURT strategies did you use?

Trading Cards

Thirty-three trading cards are to be placed in plastic sheets. Each sheet can display 8 cards. How many pages are needed to protect all the cards?

Bonus: Which of the DURT strategies did you use?

Field Trip

Twenty-six students are going on a field trip, and parents have offered to drive. If each of the 8 cars holds 3 kids, how many kids will not have a ride?

Bonus: Which of the DURT strategies did you use?

Can you name the four ways you can handle remainders?

•Drop or ignore the remainder

•Use the remainder. It’s your answer!

•Round your answer up.

•Turn the remainder into a fraction.