5 ms·

"Divide the number 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,998,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 into 1" Isn't this poor wording? The author is dividing 1 by the large numbe

• cmaggard 11y ago
  I've seen it both ways- "Divide four by two" is equivalent to "Divide two into four" in my experience.
  • userbinator 11y ago
    Really? I've always read "divide by" and "divide into" as meaning the exact same thing: "Divide four by two" = 4/2 = 2 "Divide two into four" = 2/4 = 1/2 Could this be a US/UK English difference?
    • moron4hire 11y ago
      It comes from "how many times does 2 go into 4", which is "4/2".
    • Tycho 11y ago
      I think this phrasing is less confusing when it refers to labels rather than actual numerals. For instance 'divide the price into the exchange rate', which would mean the same as 'divide the exchange rate by the price'. Why would you use this phrasing? I suppose it can flow more easily in some cases, for instance 'first work out X, then work out Y, then divide them both into Z and see which one is larger' is less of a mouthful than the alternative.
    • Stratoscope 11y ago
      Perhaps it is some kind of regional difference. I've always lived on the US West Coast, and I've heard "divide four by two" expressed as "divide two into four" many times - and never the other way around. I never use the "into" phrasing myself because it is confusing to me. But it does make some kind of sense if you think about it this way: "How many twos can you put into four?"
      • Crito 11y ago
        To me, "divide A into B" sounds like a some sort of anachronism that you might find in a 17th century one-room schoolhouse, while "divide B by A" sounds perfectly natural. I went to school on the US East Coast, so you might be onto something here.
    • bbcbasic 11y ago
      If you go to a pizza restaurant and ask them to "Divide two (large pizzas) into four (portions)" they would indeed give each person 1/2 pizza. So for colloquial use you are correct. Which makes the math definition confusing.
  • douche 11y ago
    "Divide two into four" to me means that I am dividing two into four parts, which would equal one half.
  • deciplex 11y ago
    "Divide the cake into two pieces" does not mean I'm giving you another cake.
• martincmartin 11y ago
  "Divide b into a" means the same as "divide a by b".
  • kbenson 11y ago
    Which I why I hate that wording, because that means "divide b into a" is equivalent to "divide a into b parts". And that's just confusing.
    • jfoster 11y ago
      It feels to me as though far too much of any given field uses redundant (the same concept expressed lots of different ways) or misleading (something made to sound far more complicated than it actually is) terminology and causes unnecessary amounts of confusion among anyone trying to learn it.
  • elwell 11y ago
    But it loses its English meaning for a=1. Whereas, "divide ten into two" would make sense.
  • Wonderdonkey 11y ago
    I'm with you on the wording. The word "into" is ambiguous on its own and even more ambiguous used with "divide." There's a discussion of that here: http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52296.html http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52296.html As an example, a person can easily read "divide 24 into 6" as "divide 24 into 6 [parts]," i.e. 24/x = 6, x = 4 — as opposed to 6/24 = x, x = 0.25. This use is especially reinforced by everyday experiences like dividing a cake into eight slices.
• jjaredsimpson 11y ago
  x into y is y/x