divisor

American  

[dih-vahy-zer] / dɪˈvaɪ zər /

noun

Mathematics.

1. a number by which another number, the dividend, is divided.

2. a number contained in another given number a certain integral number of times, without a remainder.

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divisor British  

/ dɪˈvaɪzə /

noun

1. a number or quantity to be divided into another number or quantity (the dividend)

2. a number that is a factor of another number

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divisor Scientific  

/ dĭ-vī′zər /

1. A number used to divide another. In the equation 15 ÷ 3 = 5, 3 is the divisor.

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Etymology

Origin of divisor

1425–75; late Middle English < Latin dīvīsor, one who divides, equivalent to dīvīd- (variant stem of dīvidere to divide ) + -tor -tor

Explanation

In math, the number you're dividing by is called the divisor. In the equation 24 ÷ 6 = 4, the divisor is 6. Often math teachers use the word divisor simply to mean any number by which you're dividing another number, whether it divides evenly or leaves a remainder. An alternate definition is "a number that divides into another without a remainder." If you need to find the greatest common divisor of several numbers, you're looking for the largest number that divides evenly, with no remainder, into all of them.

Example Sentences

But to keep things like stock splits and changes in its component stocks from distorting the Dow, its administrators created something called the Dow divisor.

From Washington Post • Dec. 16, 2022

The −5 is the opposite of the 5 in the divisor.

From Textbooks • May 6, 2020

Write the remainder as a fraction with the divisor as the denominator.

From Textbooks • Apr. 22, 2020

If someone needed to approximate a fraction with a square root in the denominator, it meant doing long division with a five decimal-place divisor.

From Textbooks • Apr. 22, 2020

Division was either done directly or by means of differences between the divisor and the next higher multiple of ten to the divisor.

From The Earliest Arithmetics in English by Steele, Robert