Division is the mathematical operation of splitting a number into equal parts or groups. When you divide 12 cookies among 3 friends, you're figuring out how many cookies each person gets: 4. Division answers the question “how many times does this number fit into that number?” or “if I share this equally, how much does each person receive?”

Division is one of the four basic operations in arithmetic, alongside addition, subtraction, and multiplication. It's the opposite of multiplication: if 3 × 4 = 12, then 12 ÷ 3 = 4. The symbol ÷ means division, though you might also see it written as a fraction (12/3) or with a division bracket in long division problems.

Understanding division helps you split things fairly, figure out rates and speeds, and solve everyday problems. If your family drives 240 miles in 4 hours, division tells you the average speed: 60 miles per hour. If you earn $45 for 5 hours of yard work, division reveals you made $9 per hour.

The word division also means a separation or split between things. A sports league might have an Eastern Division and a Western Division. A division in an army is a large group of soldiers. When people have strong disagreements that split them apart, we say there's division between them, like when a classroom experiences division over which game to play at recess.