Page:Methods of Operating the Comptometer (1895).djvu/17



—Strike the dividend on the keys according to the large figures on their tops.

Then place the fingers on the keys for the divisor—less 1—according to the small figures on their tops, in the columns embracing on the left of the dividend the least number of places which, by themselves, represent an amount as large or larger than the divisor and strike repeatedly until the number of strokes agree with the figure in the next column to the left of that on which the keys are being struck, and then continue striking until those columns of the register in which the keys are being struck represent an amount less than the divisor; after which the left hand figure on the register is the first quotient figure.

Then move the fingers one column to the right and proceed to find the second quotient figure in the same manner and so on until all the quotient figures have been obtained.

Point off from the right as many places as there are places in the divisor, when the figures at the left will be the quotient and those at the right the remainder.

NOTE.—Do not worry about why the above process brings the answer. It is simply an arbitrary rule, by which any and all examples in division can be computed on the Comptometer, and once understood is so simple that it cannot be forgotten. All there is to it is that you strike the divisor on the keys just as many times as indicated by the figure in the "next place to the left in the register" and then if the remainder is larger than the divisor strike the keys again one or more times until the remainder becomes smaller than the divisor. Twenty key strokes, all on eight keys, perform the following example, to do which only requires five seconds. No guessing how many times the divisor is contained as when computing mentally, for on the Comptometer every step is positive and assured. The machine tells you how many times to strike the keys, and after you have struck them it tells you what the answer is.