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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you do long multiplication/division regularly?

223 replies

BoyTree · 10/12/2020 15:34

Please settle a debate for me!

Older son is doing long multiplication and it came up that it would have been more important to know the formal 'method' to complete the sum by hand/brain when calculators weren't so ubiquitous. He asked who would still be doing it by hand now and I was stumped!

I can't think of anyone who would routinely do long multiplication using the column method as part of their job, but felt sure I was probably overlooking some vital role. Does anyone here use it or know of a job where this skill would be vital?

OP posts:
Brogues · 10/12/2020 16:44

I thought long division was when you had loads of numbers going down the page? I just do it on two lines.

Brogues · 10/12/2020 16:46

Yep my way is called short division not surprisingly lol. Long division has quotients and blocks and weird and wonderful stuff.

olderthanyouthink · 10/12/2020 16:49

No there's a phone or MacBook in my hands most of the time, but I do other bits of "when am I ever going to need this" maths a fair bit.

RaraRachael · 10/12/2020 16:54

Never done it since I left school. I was off school in hospital when we were taught it in P6 and never really knew how to do it properly.

WitchesSpelleas · 10/12/2020 16:55

Yes, but I tend to pop the calculations into Excel if it's anything beyond the very simple.

sanityisamyth · 10/12/2020 17:04

I had to do it at uni year last year. This year we can use calculators but it was a blast from the past and it definitely improved m number skills and manipulation by being banned from a calculator!!

TheMandalorian · 10/12/2020 17:05

When I worked in a very busy bar it was handy to be able to do multiplication in my head when the till was busy.
As an architect it's handy to sense check any structural calculations, etc. And you don't look like an idiot in meetings in front of clients etc.

OutComeTheWolves · 10/12/2020 17:07

My guilty secret is that I can't actually do long division. I can tell you the method I was taught in school but I can't actually do it. I've been left school a very long time and I've never been found out yet, so I've obviously never been in a situation where it's been needed!

QuestionableMouse · 10/12/2020 17:09

I haven't used it since I left school. And if I need to work anything out quickly, I'd grab a calculator.

GetTheGoodLookingGuy · 10/12/2020 17:10

I do, but then I am a Y6 TA...

I never learnt long division at school - just short division for dividing by one digit, and "chunking" for more than one digit.

evilharpy · 10/12/2020 17:11

I would do long multiplication on paper before I'd be arsed getting my phone out or opening the calculator in Windows.

I still can't do long division though. MIL can do it and tried to teach me once but we'd both had a few drinks so it didn't stick! I always mean to sit down and teach myself.

Glovesick · 10/12/2020 20:27

Solicitor here. I do, too lazy to locate calculator and enjoy it

MissPollyPops · 10/12/2020 21:27

I don't ever do it. Wouldn't remember how to. Actually, don't think I was ever taught long division...

MsPeachh · 10/12/2020 21:31

No, I never need to do it. I have 3 calculators at work, in the 3 different spaces I work in Grin I taught myself how to do it again over lockdown but I’ve already forgotten!

woodhill · 10/12/2020 21:31

I can do it but don't need to use in real life

FiveToFour · 10/12/2020 21:34

I can't do long division,I had badly infected eczema and was off school for a month when we were learning long division.
When I went back to school the moment had passed and maths lessons had moved on...😆
So no,I don't use it regularly!

randomsabreuse · 10/12/2020 21:36

Learned long division initially in primary, never got it. Relearned with polynomials in 6th form and suddenly I could do the substitution divisions in the puzzle books.

Knowing stuff roughly and quickly is useful in a lot of jobs - medic types for dosages and is quite useful for keeping an eye on your car's efficiency and how accurate your range/efficiency readings are.

NuniaBeeswax · 10/12/2020 21:38

I couldn't even do it even when I was being taught how to at school so I sure won't be doing it now!

InTheLongGrass · 10/12/2020 21:39

Not to get an accurate answer, but I frequently use it to sense check answers given electronically.
I work in a lab.
DH regularly does it properly double checking other peoples complicated engineering calcs. He prefers doing them stepwise on paper than as a big long excel formula - and it's always different stuff, so no point setting up a macro, as hes an chemical engineer consultant.

BloggersBlog · 10/12/2020 21:39

In maths classes regularly Smile

iLovee · 10/12/2020 21:55

I do use it a lot! But I'm a primary school teacher, previously I hadn't used it since school.

AyeAyeShipAhoy · 10/12/2020 22:03

@ClarenceBoddicker

You need to have some knowledge of how it actually works so that you can spot a big fuck up in using your calculator skills! If someone said what is 50 x 125 and the answer was 10 million I wouldn’t just say hey ho must be right as that was what the answer was
This^^
MsAwesomeDragon · 10/12/2020 22:14

I do it all the time, while teaching maths.
I missed long division when I was at school (I assume they didn't really spend long on it, and I was ill quite often in year 6 and 7). It never really came up much in later secondary really, so I just sort of did a bodged together sort of short division if I needed it. I learned long division when I was doing my PGCE!!

It does come up in A Level maths, when dividing polynomials, but it's quicker if you can do that "by inspection" and so that's what I used.

QueenofLouisiana · 10/12/2020 22:19

I do, but I’m a yr6 teacher. Actually, I use long multiplication as my go to method when I need to multiply. I’d very rarely grab a calculator to do a calculation, I’m quicker on paper.

Thecurtainsofdestiny · 10/12/2020 22:23

I do when need to work something out and phone/ calculator is not to hand.