What is x when 18 divided by x equals 42?

In other words, what would the divisor be if the dividend were 18 and the quotient 42?

To find the answer, just divide the dividend by the quotient: 18 ÷ 42 = 0.42857142857143

To prove this, let's compute 18 divided by 0.42857142857143: 18 0.42857142857143 = 42

How does it work?

Asking what the value of x could be when 18 divided by x gives a result of 42, is equivalent to solving the following equation:

18 x = 42

  1. Multiply both sides by x: 18 x x = 42 x
  2. 18 x x is equivalent to x x × 18 , which simplifies to 1 × 18 (or just 18 ).
  3. Thus, the equation becomes: 18 = 42 x
  4. To find x, divide both sides by 42: 18 42 = 42 x 42
  5. Which gives, after simplification: 0.42857142857143 = x (or x = 0.42857142857143 )

So, if the dividend is 18 and the quotient is 42, the divisor is 0.42857142857143.