Remainder – Definition with Examples

What is Remainder?

Remainder means something which is ‘left over’ or ‘remaining’. 

If you have 9 toffees and you share it equally with your four friends. How many toffees will you have? 

remainder

If you give two toffees each to your friends, you would have shared 8 toffees.  Only1 toffee will remain with you, and this leftover of 1 toffee is called the remainder.

example of remainder

Mathematically we can write the above expression as:

9 ÷ 4 = 2 remainder 1

Where 9 is the dividend, 4 is the divisor, 2 is the quotient, and 1 is the remainder.

On dividing 22 by 3. 

We get 3 equal parts of 7, that add up to 21

3 x 7 = 21.

We are left with 1. This 1 is the remainder.

When one number cannot divide another number completely, it le get a remainder.

Examples:

18 ÷ 7Remainder 4
15 ÷ 10Remainder 5
23 ÷ 6Remainder 5
46 ÷ 9Remainder 1
15 ÷ 5Remainder 0

Properties of Remainder:

  • When one number divides another number completely, the remainder is 0.
  • The remainder is always less than the divisor. If the remainder is greater than the divisor, it means that the division is incomplete.
  • It can be greater than or lesser than the quotient. For example; when 41 is divided by 7, the quotient is 5 and the remainder is 6. Here the remainder is greater than the quotient.
Fun Facts
– The word remainder comes from the French word ‘remaindre’ which means to remain.