The Royal Cooking Lesson

1
The Royal Cooking Lesson
I am learning to solve division problems by
changing them to simpler problems that have the
same answer.
2
15 people want to eat at restaurant A. There
are 3 tables. How many people (blue dots) must be
seated around each table (blue rectangle)?
15 3 5
30 people want to eat at restaurant B. There
are 6 tables. How many people (blue dots) must be
seated around each table (blue rectangle)?
30 6 5
Did you spot the pattern? If you have twice as
many people and twice as many tables then the
amount of people you put around each table
doesnt change.
15 3 5
X2 (twice as many tables)
Answer doesnt change
X2 (twice as many people)
30 6 5
3
A small café normally serves 10 people at morning
tea at 5 different tables. On the weekends they
serve 30 people at morning tea at 15 different
tables.
Weekday
Weekend
10 5 2
Did you notice that three times more people are
served on the weekend but there are also three
times as many seats so they still seat the same
amount of people at each table.
30 15 2
10 5 2
X3 (three times as many tables)
Answer doesnt change
X3 (three times as many people)
30 15 2
4
We can use this strategy to answer some quite
difficult questions. E.g 128 32
I notice that the numbers are even so I can
divide by 2 to make the problem easier to answer.
128 32 ?
2
2
This is still too hard for me to answer so I can
try dividing by 2 again.
64 16 ?
4
4
2
2
I know the answer to this question is 4 so the
answer to 128 32 4
32 8 4
If I was really smart I could have done this in
one step by dividing both 128 and 32 by 4.
5
The questions on the left have a buddy question
to the right. Work out which questions go
together and how the question on the right helps
you answer its buddy question to the left.

• 135 27 ?
• 81 9 ?
• 3) 84 12 ?
• 4) 144 16 ?

5
72 8 9
Click again when you have worked out which
questions go together.
9
42 6 7
45 9 5
7
27 3 9
9
6
Now try these questions on your own.
Click again when you have worked out all your
answers.
1) 112 16 ? 2) 98 14 ? 3) 75 15
? 4) 72 12 ? 5) 96 32 ?
56 8 7 So 112 16 7 49 7
7 So 98 14 7 25 5 5
So 75 15 5 36 6 6 So 72
12 6 24 8 3 So 96 32 3
Need some more practise? Try Pg37 38 of Teacher
Tools Multiplication and Division Book Numeracy
resources