What To Do
With Remainders
By the end of this lesson, you will know four
different ways to handle a remainder in
real life.
My division problem has a
remainder. Now what do I do?
Problems with a
remainder require you to
be extra thoughtful. This
activity will teach you how
to deal with remainders in
real life.
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 1
What 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 1
What 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 1
What 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.