Definition
Partial quotient
A partial quotient is one quotient part found by removing a convenient multiple of the divisor.
What it means
Take out an easy batch of equal groups instead of finding the whole quotient at once. Record how many groups that batch contains. Keep taking batches, then add those group counts. Those counts are the partial quotients.
Remember it
Take out chunks, count the groups, add the counts.
Example
For 196 ÷ 14, subtract 140, which is 10 groups of 14. Then subtract 56, which is 4 groups. The partial quotients are 10 and 4, so the quotient is 10 + 4 = 14.
Watch for
In the first step, 140 is the amount removed; 10 is the partial quotient because it counts the groups of 14.
Common mix-up
Add the partial quotients, not the amounts that were subtracted.
Exact meaning
In the partial-quotients method, each convenient multiple subtracted from the current dividend contributes a partial quotient equal to its number of divisor groups; the partial quotients are added, and the process stops when the remainder is less than the divisor.