5 ms·

Can anyone do long division other than children and those who pursue math academically? Seems impossible to imagine.

hodgesrm 4y ago
This is news to me that people can't/don't do long division. It's simple. I use it regularly to estimate quotients--just run the process to a couple places in your head.
scatters 4y ago
You need to be able to perform long division to take quotients in algebraic structures, e.g. polynomials. Yes, Wolfram Alpha can probably do it, but not always.
- foota 4y ago
  shudders with memories of abstract algebra
- omnicognate 4y ago
  It's easier with polynomials than with numbers, though.
  - sdenton4 4y ago
    But numbers are polynomials! Both in the trivial sense, and the 361 = 3x10^2 + 6x10 + 1 sense
- ogogmad 4y ago
  You don't need to understand long division to be able to do that. Long division is over the integers. It's got a weird notation, and I never learnt it. There isn't any reason for 99.9% of mathematicians - even in abstract algebra - to know long division.
incompatible 4y ago
I guess a few advanced software developers may also be able to apply such a complex algorithm to a couple of integers.
- bitexploder 4y ago
  Only a few. The most talented, to be sure.
  - loldk 4y ago
daniel-cussen 4y ago
It's much easier in base 2 than in base 10. Similar to the multiplication tables, the table for base 2 is just the 2x2 matrix at the top left corner of the 10x10 times tables.
Ygg2 4y ago
Do people that purse math use long division that much?
- expensive_news 4y ago
  Well I have a Math BA and I can say that I haven’t done much long division by hand in the past few years but I sure know how to do it.
zwirbl 4y ago
After looking it up on Wikipedia and seeing the various notations used (most of which are awful IMO) I get the hate on long division, though I never felt anything like that. It may be because it is familiar to me, but the notation I learned in school in Austria feels superior or at least less irritating. I guess German schools use the same. Why the heck write the divisor first?
taejo 4y ago
As a kid who chronically forgot to bring her calculator to school for about 12 years straight, I can now do long division well enough that I sometimes do it rather than get up to fetch my phone from the other room. It's also how I do division in my head. I did pursue mathematics academically but I don't know if it ever came up in university math; more so in physics and computer science. EDIT: apparently what I do is "short division", which is just long division but you don't write down all the steps.

This is news to me that people can't/don't do long division. It's simple. I use it regularly to estimate quotients--just run the process to a couple places in your head.

scatters 4y ago

You need to be able to perform long division to take quotients in algebraic structures, e.g. polynomials. Yes, Wolfram Alpha can probably do it, but not always.

foota 4y ago
shudders with memories of abstract algebra
omnicognate 4y ago
It's easier with polynomials than with numbers, though.
- sdenton4 4y ago
  But numbers are polynomials! Both in the trivial sense, and the 361 = 3x10^2 + 6x10 + 1 sense
ogogmad 4y ago
You don't need to understand long division to be able to do that. Long division is over the integers. It's got a weird notation, and I never learnt it. There isn't any reason for 99.9% of mathematicians - even in abstract algebra - to know long division.

incompatible 4y ago

I guess a few advanced software developers may also be able to apply such a complex algorithm to a couple of integers.

bitexploder 4y ago
Only a few. The most talented, to be sure.
- loldk 4y ago

daniel-cussen 4y ago

It's much easier in base 2 than in base 10. Similar to the multiplication tables, the table for base 2 is just the 2x2 matrix at the top left corner of the 10x10 times tables.

Ygg2 4y ago

Do people that purse math use long division that much?

expensive_news 4y ago
Well I have a Math BA and I can say that I haven’t done much long division by hand in the past few years but I sure know how to do it.

zwirbl 4y ago

After looking it up on Wikipedia and seeing the various notations used (most of which are awful IMO) I get the hate on long division, though I never felt anything like that. It may be because it is familiar to me, but the notation I learned in school in Austria feels superior or at least less irritating. I guess German schools use the same. Why the heck write the divisor first?

taejo 4y ago

As a kid who chronically forgot to bring her calculator to school for about 12 years straight, I can now do long division well enough that I sometimes do it rather than get up to fetch my phone from the other room. It's also how I do division in my head. I did pursue mathematics academically but I don't know if it ever came up in university math; more so in physics and computer science. EDIT: apparently what I do is "short division", which is just long division but you don't write down all the steps.