When a question spaces things out or leaves a few over, stop and decide: are you counting points or gaps, and does the leftover need one more?
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Off by One: Interpreting Remainders
Methods in this video
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- 1
Ask what the remainder means
When to use it: A division does not come out exactly and the question asks for a whole number of things: how many buses or bags, which layer, how many full weeks, the most coins, the fewest needed. Look for smallest number of … needed, full, at least, up to, greatest number of.
- Write the answer as a quotient and a remainder first: the quotient may not be the answer.
- If the leftover still has to go somewhere, add one. If it can't make a whole one, drop it.
- One question can need two divisions: drop the leftover in one, add one in the other.
- If the first one is different, take it away first and add it back at the end.
Practise exam-style questions with these methods
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