Long division by a big number

This means that you can try cancelling factors, instead of doing long division. In this case, both numbers are even so divide top and bottom by 2 to give 516/12. Divide by 2 again gives 258/6 and again by 2 gives 129/3. You can do this by long division very quickly (43) - much more easily than dividing by 24.

If you do have to do a long division by a large number, write out the "times table" for this number before you start, by adding, to get 1 to 10 times the number. This will make the division much easier and less prone to mistakes.

It is very important to get the table right, otherwise your long division will give you the wrong answer.

One way is to multiply the tens and units separately and add them together. For example, if you want to produce the 29 times table, write out the 20 times table and the 9 times table, both of which you can do by memory. Write them in two columns next to each other, and then add them together in a third column.