Question

26.95 divided by -5.5
show your work

Answer 1

To divide \( 26.95 \) by \( -5.5 \), we can follow these steps:

1. **Convert the division to a fraction**:
\[
\frac{26.95}{-5.5}
\]

2. **Change the negative denominator to a negative result**:
\[
= -\frac{26.95}{5.5}
\]

3. **Perform the long division of \( 26.95 \) by \( 5.5 \)**:
To make division easier, we can eliminate the decimal by multiplying both the numerator and denominator by 10:
\[
\frac{26.95 \times 10}{5.5 \times 10} = \frac{269.5}{55}
\]

Now we divide \( 269.5 \) by \( 55 \).

4. **Estimate how many times \( 55 \) fits into \( 269.5 \)**:
\( 55 \times 4 = 220 \) and \( 55 \times 5 = 275 \). So, \( 55 \) fits into \( 269.5 \) about \( 4 \) times.

5. **Calculate \( 4 \times 55 \)**:
\[
4 \times 55 = 220
\]
Now subtract from \( 269.5 \):
\[
269.5 - 220 = 49.5
\]

6. **Find the next digit**:
Bring down the next digit \( 0 \) (making it \( 495 \)).
Now, estimate how many times \( 55 \) fits into \( 495 \):
\[
55 \times 9 = 495 \quad \text{(exactly)}
\]

7. **Final result of the division without the negative sign**:
So, we have:
\[
4 + 0.9 = 4.9
\]

8. **Adding the negative sign from step 2**:
\[
-4.9
\]

Therefore, the result of \( 26.95 \div -5.5 \) is:
\[
\boxed{-4.9}
\]