What is x when 42 divided by x equals 78?

In other words, what would the divisor be if the dividend were 42 and the quotient 78?

To find the answer, just divide the dividend by the quotient: 42 ÷ 78 = 0.53846153846154

To prove this, let's compute 42 divided by 0.53846153846154: 42 0.53846153846154 = 78

How does it work?

Asking what the value of x could be when 42 divided by x gives a result of 78, is equivalent to solving the following equation:

42 x = 78

  1. Multiply both sides by x: 42 x x = 78 x
  2. 42 x x is equivalent to x x × 42 , which simplifies to 1 × 42 (or just 42 ).
  3. Thus, the equation becomes: 42 = 78 x
  4. To find x, divide both sides by 78: 42 78 = 78 x 78
  5. Which gives, after simplification: 0.53846153846154 = x (or x = 0.53846153846154 )

So, if the dividend is 42 and the quotient is 78, the divisor is 0.53846153846154.