Which one is correct?
"divide by" or "divide through"?

Question

Which one is correct?
"divide by" or "divide through"?

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Use 'divide by' when indicating the operation of division, such as 'divide 10 by 2' or 'divide the total by the number of people.'

Examples:

Please divide 20 by 4 to get the answer.
You can divide the cake by cutting it into equal parts.
The teacher asked the students to divide by 3 to solve the problem.
It's easy to divide by 5 when you know the trick.
The formula requires you to divide by the coefficient.

Alternatives:

perform division by
calculate the quotient by dividing
split by
share by
apportion by

Use 'divide through' when talking about spreading or distributing something, such as 'divide the workload through the team' or 'divide the resources through the departments.'

Examples:

The manager decided to divide the tasks through the team members.
We need to divide the budget through the various projects.
The organization aims to divide the benefits through all employees.
The leader plans to divide the responsibilities through the departments.
It's important to divide the information through the appropriate channels.

Alternatives:

distribute among
share among
allocate through
spread through
disperse among

Both 'divide by' and 'divide through' are correct phrases, but they are used in different contexts. 'Divide by' is commonly used when talking about mathematical operations, while 'divide through' is used in a more figurative sense, often in the context of spreading or distributing something.

Last Updated: March 30, 2024