What is x when 40 divided by x equals 16?

To find the answer, just divide the dividend by the quotient: 40 ÷ 16 = 2.5

To prove this, let's compute 40 divided by 2.5: $\frac{40}{2.5} = 16$

How does it work?

Asking what the value of x could be when 40 divided by x gives a result of 16, is equivalent to solving the following equation:

$\frac{40}{x} = 16$

Multiply both sides by x: $\frac{40 x}{x} = 16 x$
$\frac{40 x}{x}$ is equivalent to $\frac{x}{x} \times 40$ , which simplifies to $1 \times 40$ (or just $40$ ).
Thus, the equation becomes: $40 = 16 x$
To find x, divide both sides by 16: $\frac{40}{16} = \frac{16 x}{16}$
Which gives, after simplification: $2.5 = x$ (or $x = 2.5$ )

So, if the dividend is 40 and the quotient is 16, the divisor is 2.5.