# Long division symbol name?



## sodapop

Hi,

I am looking the name or a location to find the name of the long division symbol
    ______
    )

It is not called the long division symbol, long division bracket, or gozinto.

Thanks for your help,

Soda


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## shg

See http://mathworld.wolfram.com/LongDivisionSymbol.html


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## sodapop

I showed my Prof. that and it did not fly.  He says that there is an actual name for the symbol but hasn't divulged that information.


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## sous2817

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gozinta


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## JamesW

> The symbol separating the dividend from the divisor seems to have no established  name, so can be simply referred to as the long division symbol (or sometimes the division bracket).


http://mathworld.wolfram.com/LongDivision.html

...



> This symbol has no actual name, although it is used in math textbooks throughout the  US, and possibly all over the world.


http://everything2.com/title/long+division+symbol

...

A Vinculum is the name of the seperator (divider) between two numbers, used in divison (but not the long division symbol):



		Code:
__


12
---   <- Vinculum
 2

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/58321.html

There doesn't seem to be a name for the Long division symbol..


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## sodapop

Maybe I should call it the long division symbol formally known as Prince.

Thanks for your help.  It seems we all have found the same info.  There must be some secret math teacher website that has this information.


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## Atroxell

Well, I'm curious.

If your profesor comes up with a name, be sure to post it here so we can all stump people with the question.

My daughter is a teacher and that would be a great trivia question for her 5th graders...


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## arkusM

is it a Tablleau?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_division#Notation_in_non-English-speaking_parts_of_the_world


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## Atroxell

Hmmm...Interesting wiki article. Explained to me why my German mother's long division looked so different from what I learned...and yet her specific style does not appear in the article. She does something that I can only describe as a cross between US and Europe. 

But the article did answer my next question, which was to be what the name of the other division sign is--"obelus".

I think the use of the word "tableau" in the article refers to the general layout of the equation, and not directly to the division symbol.


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## RoryA

The only names I know of are: virgule/solidus, vinculum or obelus
As none of those are the long division symbol, I'll be intrigued as to what your teacher says. (If he says 'perquin', please ask for a reference!)


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## sodapop

Once the Prof tells me the answer I will post it here.

So, I googled perquin and came up with a place in south america and personal names.  So what is perquin?


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## cornflakegirl

I think Rory may be referring to this.


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## RoryA

Yep.


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## sodapop

JamesW said:


> A Vinculum is the name of the seperator (divider) between two numbers, used in divison (but not the long division symbol):
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> __
> 
> 
> 12
> ---   <- Vinculum
> 2
> 
> http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/58321.html
> 
> There doesn't seem to be a name for the Long division symbol..


 

Well a classmate of mine let me in on the secret.  The teacher was not looking for the long division symbol name like he said but was looking for Vinculum.

So, thanks for everyones help.


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## John Lord

sodapop said:


> Well a classmate of mine let me in on the secret.  The teacher was not looking for the long division symbol name like he said but was looking for Vinculum.
> 
> So, thanks for everyones help.



I have submitted the suggestion of 'divant' as a nice name for the "long division symbol" to an online Webster's dictionary site.  They haven't posted it yet, and I don't know if they will.  When I first Google searched for it a while back, there were no hits and no spelling suggestions.  A company now uses it for the name of their web site, but they only started their web site in March 2011 and I have an old email to a friend of mine dated from November 2010 wherein I first suggested the term 'divant'.  If you like the term, start telling your friends that 'divant is the short name for the long division symbol'.   Words become words when enough people agree that the same symbol represents the same object or meaning.  Let's all start using 'divant' in place of 'long division symbol'. I made it up, but I promise not to copyright it.  LOL!


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## John Lord

Please just start using "*divant*" and tell all your friends.
divant (noun) : short name to replace the phrase 'long division symbol' used for
the arithmetic operator consisting of a right parenthesis connected to a
super-scripted line, where the divisor is placed to the left of the parenthesis,
the dividend is place under the super-scripted line, and the quotient is placed
above the super-scripted line.  
http://colly.dyndns.org/math/divant.jpg
Just so you know - when I first submitted this word suggestion, Google search found NO hits for "divant".
The plus and minus symbols have been around since the 1300-1400's.  Isn't it about time the long division symbol gets its own name?
Merriam-Webster rejected my submission.  They claim words only get added to dictionaries based on usage:
Help | Merriam-Webster 
Please just tell your friends that the *long division symbol is called a* "*divant*" and ask them to tell their friends, and so on.

Add it to your spell checkers.  You'll probably have to add obelus and vinculum while you're at it. 
Check and see that you also know virgule and solidus.


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## John Lord

sodapop said:


> Well a classmate of mine let me in on the secret.  The teacher was not looking for the long division symbol name like he said but was looking for Vinculum.
> 
> So, thanks for everyones help.




One could wish for teachers who care a bit more about accuracy of word usage.  Asking for one thing and expecting another is frustrating to both parties and can only be expected to cause breakdowns in communications.
It happened to one of my sister's teachers in the 8th grade.  She took extremely complete and accurate class notes and when one of her teachers subjected them to a test that was not even based on the subject as it had been taught, she took her notes, the test, and our parents to the school board.  End result, the teacher got fired.


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