Question

the price of jet fuel in north america during the last week of 2012 was recorded as $3,062 for 1,000 gallons. What was the unit price of jet fuel

Answer 1

Hello there,

Long division works from left to right. Since 3062 is a 4-digit number, it will not go into 1, the first digit of 1000, and so successive digits are added until a number greater than 3062 is found. In this case 4 digits are added to make 1000undefined. Note the other digits in the original number have been turned grey to emphasise this and grey zeroes have been placed above to show where division was not possible with fewer digits.

The closest we can get to 1000 undefined without exceeding it is 0 which is 0 × 3062.These values have been added to the division, highlighted in red.

In this case the target of 1000 is less than 3062 so a division is not possible. Put a 0 in the answer to show this and 0s below the 1000.

Leaving out the 0 from the answer line when this occurs is one of the easiest mistakes to make with long division.

Hope this helps.

~Jurgen