# Can you still do long division?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 7, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342 "2011-12-07T03:56:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/1 "2011-12-07T03:56:40Z")
It’s been a while for most of us. Do you still have it, or are you lost without a calculator? If you’re not sure, divide 102468 by 12 and see if you get 8539.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/2 "2011-12-07T04:05:39Z")
12 goes into 102 8 times with a remainder of 6. Bring down the 4; 12 goes into 64 5 times with a remainder of 4. Bring down the 6; 12 goes into 46 3 times with a remainder of 10. Bring down the 8; 12 goes into 108 9 times for an answer of 8539.
The longest time was spent searching for paper because I don’t do math in my head. Not because I can’t, just on principle.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/3 "2011-12-07T04:15:08Z")
Long division? Yep… Some algebra? Yeah… Some very trivial calculus? Kinda…
But, please, don’t ask me to divide up the dinner tab and resolve who owes what! Who had the fish? No, George, you had the wine cooler. The tax is eight and three quarters per cent, and a tip is in order… No, George, ten back from a twenty is not fifteen… Lord, spare me the agonies of Bistro Math!
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/4 "2011-12-07T04:21:36Z")
The real question is how many of you can do synthetic division to check the roots of a polynomial?
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/5 "2011-12-07T04:25:46Z")
> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> Lord, spare me the agonies of Bistro Math!
That’s because people forget what they had: “Look, there are six soups here. Alex, Beth, Chuck and Daphne each had soup – who had the other two?”
I used to be able to extract square roots by a method similar to long division, and I know there’s a method to extract cube roots, but who needs that stuff with calculators and computers?
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### Author:  [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/6 "2011-12-07T04:29:24Z")
I can, but two years ago when my daughter was learning it, they had a different method than the way I learned it. I forget exactly how that method worked now though…but I thought it might be better.
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### Author:  [@Lusus\_Naturae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lusus_Naturae)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/7 "2011-12-07T04:42:37Z")
Long division is probably the only bit of “simple arithmatic” that I actually enjoy doing. Addition, subtration, trivial. Multiplication, interesting but no style, no panache. Now long division, there’s some math with the funk.
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### Author:  [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/8 "2011-12-07T04:44:22Z")
Maybe, but I don’t care to check. I didn’t buy this horrendously expensive calculator to not use it for everything out of mental math range.
ETA: I did check, and yeah, I still can. Which is reassuring.
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### Author:  [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/9 "2011-12-07T04:45:22Z")
There are a lot of mathematical routines that kids are taught that I think are stupid. Long division is one, and I can’t remember how they are supposed to do it.
I can use my own method of long division though which actually makes sense.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/10 "2011-12-07T04:52:37Z")
Yup; actually did it earlier tonight. Just because I could. 😉
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/11 "2011-12-07T05:07:26Z")
I help my kids with math, so yes. I’m also trying to keep myself in practice with Khan Academy–I’ve earned the pre-algebra challenge badge and have a way to go (but you have to do every exercise, so it takes a while!).
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/12 "2011-12-07T05:08:18Z")
Long division (as well as working out all basic arithmetic, long form) has always come pretty easy for me. Although division is so damn boring and tedious.
But, she’s never left me! And now I’m helping my son with it. _sigh_
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### Author:  [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/13 "2011-12-07T06:19:47Z")
Dear god no. I can barely do addition and subtraction on paper, let alone anything more complicated. But then again I’ve always had a difficult time with math. The hoops I have to jump through in my head to even do mental adding/subtracting are apparently quite ridiculous XD
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/14 "2011-12-07T06:47:16Z")
I still use a wooden pencil and paper for writing, too.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/15 "2011-12-07T06:58:51Z")
> [@Duckster](#):
>
> I still use a wooden pencil and paper for writing, too.
What’s this “paper” stuff? If clay tablets were good enough for my ancestors, they’re good enough for me.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/16 "2011-12-07T07:03:42Z")
I do most of my limited math on paper. I only resort to a calculator when I’m in front of my computer. I don’t have a stand-alone calculator, and it’s just not worth it to boot up my PC just to perform a few calculations.
I also choose to write in cursive.
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### Author:  [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/17 "2011-12-07T08:55:07Z")
Basic math actually became more clear once I entered college. Waiting tables to pay tuition can do that for you.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/18 "2011-12-07T09:33:08Z")
With the division in the OP I can just look at that and see the answer, without conscious thought, faster than I could do it on a calculator. The 102000 is 8500 times 12. The 468 is 12 less than 480 which is 40 times 12, so 39. 8539.
Mind you I spent years working for a bookmaker (the gambling kind) calculating and keeping track of bets in my head to enable him to make a profit.
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### Author:  [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/19 "2011-12-07T10:14:14Z")
> [@Carmady](#):
>
> I can use my own method of long division though which actually makes sense.
I’m kind of curious as to what this method is.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-still-do-long-division/605342/20 "2011-12-07T11:32:15Z")
I frequently do rough long division in my head - more an order-of-magnitude thing - and I’ll do paper-and-pencil math because \*someone \*in this household has swiped my calculator and didn’t put it back. Sometimes for giggles, I’ll keep a running tab in my head when I’m shopping, just to keep my mind sharp. I refuse to turn into one of those people who has a major meltdown when trying to do simple calculations. Sometimes batteries fail and you need to know how to do it the old fashioned way, whether it’s math or other chores. We all need to be a little bit Amish… 😉
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