Long division calculator

How to use it

1. Type the number you are dividing (the dividend) and the number you divide by (the divisor). Whole numbers or decimals, up to 30 digits each; a dot or a comma works as the decimal point.
2. Choose Remainder for an answer like 1308 r 1, or Decimals to keep going after the point, either Auto (until the division ends or a block of digits repeats) or to a fixed number of places, rounded.
3. Pick the layout your school uses. The digits are the same in all three; only where things are written changes.
4. Tap Step by step, then Next and Back, to see one divide, multiply, subtract and bring-down at a time, each with a sentence that says what happened.
5. Use Copy steps as text for a message or a worksheet, or Print for the drawing and the steps on paper.
6. For algebra, open Polynomials and type something like x^3 - 2x + 1 and x - 3.

What it cannot do

• Numbers up to 30 digits each. Anything longer is refused rather than rounded.
• No negative numbers: divide without the sign, then put a minus in front if exactly one of the two was negative.
• Polynomials in one variable only (x, or any one letter), powers up to 20, no brackets to multiply out. No synthetic division.
• Three layouts. The Dutch layout (12 / 135 \ 11,25) is not drawn. Schools in Mexico, Uruguay and Argentina write only the remainders: tick Subtract in your head for that.
• A repeating block is searched for up to 5,000 places, and the drawing stops at 40 places. 1 ÷ 9973, for example, repeats only every 554 digits.
• Your last inputs are kept in this browser's local storage, on this device only; Clear removes them. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

How the three layouts differ

The arithmetic is identical; what changes is where the divisor, the answer and the decimal point go. 127 ÷ 4 = 31.75 is written:

• Bracket: 4 outside a bracket, 127 inside, the answer 31.75 on a bar above. US, UK and other English-speaking countries, India, China, Japan and Korea.
• Inline: 127 : 4 = 31,75 on one line, the working underneath, a comma as the decimal point. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and their neighbours; much of Latin America writes it with ÷.
• Divisor right: 127 | 4, with the answer 31,75 under a line beneath the 4. France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

Country lists and descriptions from Long division, Wikipedia (revision of 13 October 2026, fetched 20 October 2026, CC BY-SA 4.0), whose notation section has no references of its own, so your child's exercise book is the final word. The quotes, the country lists, the URL and the date are in layouts.json.

Questions

How do you do long division with decimals?

Make the divisor a whole number first: move its decimal point to the right, and move the dividend's point the same number of places. 12.7 ÷ 0.4 becomes 127 ÷ 4, which has the same answer. Then divide as usual, put a decimal point in the answer above (or after) the dividend's point, and keep bringing down zeros: 127 ÷ 4 = 31.75. The calculator does this move for you and says so in the first step.

How do you write a long division answer with a remainder?

7849 ÷ 6 = 1308 r 1, because 1308 × 6 = 7848 and 1 is left over. As a mixed number that is 1308 1/6, and as a decimal 1308.1666…, with the 6 repeating for ever. The answer box shows all three, with the check 1308 × 6 + 1 = 7849.

How do you do long division without a remainder?

Keep going past the last digit: write a decimal point in the answer, add a 0 to the remainder and divide again. Either the remainder reaches 0 (22 ÷ 8 = 2.75) or a remainder you have already seen comes back, and from then on the same digits repeat: 1 ÷ 7 = 0.142857142857… Choose Decimals to see it happen.

How does polynomial long division work?

Write the dividend with every power, putting 0 in front of any missing one: x³ − 2x + 1 becomes x³ + 0x² − 2x + 1. Divide its first term by the divisor's first term (x³ ÷ x = x²), multiply the whole divisor by that, subtract, bring down the next term and repeat until what is left has a lower power than the divisor. (x³ − 2x + 1) ÷ (x − 3) = x² + 3x + 7, remainder 22; check: (x² + 3x + 7)(x − 3) + 22 = x³ − 2x + 1.

Why does my child's school write long division differently?

Because the layout is a national habit, not part of the maths. If a calculator draws a bracket and the exercise book has 127 : 4 = on one line, the steps look wrong even when the digits are right. Pick the layout above and the drawing follows it, decimal comma included.

What does the line over the digits mean?

It marks the digits that repeat for ever. 1 ÷ 7 = 0.142857 with a line over 142857 means 0.142857142857…; copied text writes the same block in brackets, 0.(142857), because a line over plain text does not survive pasting.