Math 7 · Unit 3, Lesson 5: Dividing Signed Numbers · Tile 4 of 4
Real-World Quotients
Sharing costs and finding rates
Share it, or find the rate
Divide when you share something into equal parts, or when you want to know how much changed each time. Give the total a sign, divide, and say what the answer means. A negative answer means each part is a cost or a drop.
In a real-world quotient, the sign tells the direction of each equal part, and the size tells how much.
The sign says up or down. The number says how much each time.
Watch it work
Five partners are investing in a business that costs $21,438. One partner writes:
It means each partner's share is a cost of $4,287.60.
A drill reaches −60 meters after 24 hours of digging at a steady rate.
It digs 2.5 meters down each hour. Later it is at −143.6 meters. How long has it run?
Two negatives make a positive, and time is positive: 57.44 hours. This is the same drill as Lesson 4, run backward.
Both examples are from the North Carolina unpacking document for this standard.
NC standard: NC.7.NS.2.