20 Divided by What Equals 40?
Methods
Setting up the problem:
In a problem like this, the “what” means that we’re working with a variable. The most common variable used in math is “x”. So we could say what number, x can we divide 20 by to equal 40?
Solving 20 Divided by What Equals 40
Here’s how you would set up this question as an equation:
20
x
=
40
\frac{20}{x} = 40
x 20 = 40
The goal of the problem is to solve for x. To do this we need to change the equation so that x is alone on one side of the equation.In this case, it can be done in two steps. The first step is to multiply both sides by x to isolate 20:
20
=
40
∗
x
20 = 40*x
20 = 40 ∗ x
Then we can isolate x on the right side of the equation by dividing both sides by 40:
20
40
=
x
\frac{20}{40} = x
40 20 = x
When we simplify the new equation, we can solve for x. In this example, we will round to the nearest three decimal places if that’s needed.
x
=
0.500
x = 0.500
x = 0.500
Practice Other Division Problems Like This One
If this problem was a little difficult or you want to practice your skills on another one, give it a go on any one of these too!
What divided by 45 equals 16?
81 divided by what equals 69?
What is 11/19 divided by 80?
What is 9/4 divided by 6/12?
What is 99 divided by 17/1?