International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology
Open Access

Abstract

Why is It so Hard to Solve Long Divisions for 10-Year-Old Children?

Camos V* and Baumer J

Although division is considered as the most difficult arithmetic operation to solve, it is also the less studied. The aim of the present study was to explore the contribution of some cognitive abilities (knowledge of multiplicative facts, attentional and spatial capacities) of 10-year-old children to their achievement in solving long divisions, and to define the factors that make long divisions difficult. Although the size of the operands predicted performance, the number of processing steps required to perform each division was the best predictor of achievement. Moreover, increased attention capacity and better knowledge in multiplicative facts favoured division solving, whereas spatial capacity did not contribute for unique variance. Finally, the decrease in performance when solution requires more processing steps was stronger in children with lower attentional capacity.