Long Division
Step-by-step long division: every quotient digit, the product subtracted and the running remainder.
| # | current value | subtract | remainder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 1 | − 0 | 1 |
| Step 2 | 10 | − 7 | 3 |
| Step 3 | 30 | − 28 | 2 |
| Step 4 after decimal point | 20 | − 14 | 6 |
| Step 5 after decimal point | 60 | − 56 | 4 |
No remainder repeated within the chosen places, so no recurring cycle was detected.
What is it
Long division breaks a big division into small, repeatable steps: at each stage you take the current remainder, bring down one more digit of the dividend, figure out how many times the divisor fits, write that quotient digit, subtract the product, and keep the leftover as the next remainder. This tool replays those steps for you, and keeps going into decimal places so you can see the process instead of just the final number.
Notes & fun facts
Long division is really just division done the way a clerk would have done it by hand, digit by digit, on a slate. It survived calculators and spreadsheets because it teaches the idea of place value: why you subtract 28 from 30 and not from 300, and what the little zero quotient digit in the middle actually means.
Origin & history
The step-by-step long division algorithm we teach in school has medieval roots: al-Khwarizmi described division-like procedures in his algebra book of about 820 AD, and the written-out long form evolved through Arabic and Indian manuscripts. The printed layout we know — quotient on top, bracket, steps below — settled in European textbooks of the 16th-17th centuries.