quotient

UK/ˈkwəʊʃənt/US/ˈkwoʊʃənt/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,742 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: quotients

A quotient is the result of dividing one number by another. Find the quotient, the quotient is four, an intelligence quotient.

The parts have names: the dividend is divided by the divisor to give the quotient, and anything left is the remainder. Intelligence quotient is where most people meet the word, and it was originally a ratio of mental age to actual age.

Definitions of quotient

1nounquotientThe result of dividing one number by another.C1
“If you divide twenty by five, the quotient is four.”

quotient is a result.

Where it comes from

Latin quotiens means how many times, from quot, how many.

Latin
quotiēns
English, today
quotient

Latin quotiēns, from quotiēs.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Numbers & Measurement

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quotient in the wild

The dual notion of a quotient group is a subgroup, these being the two primary ways of forming a smaller group from a larger one.
Quotient group
Any normal subgroup has a corresponding quotient group, formed from the larger group by eliminating the distinction between elements of the subgroup.
Quotient group
Originally, IQ was a quotient obtained by dividing a person's estimated mental age, obtained by administering an intelligence test, by the person's chronological age.
Intelligence quotient
All four are in common usage, but are not to be confused with the quotient of a ring by an ideal, which is a quite different concept.
Field of fractions
What is being divided is called the dividend, which is divided by the divisor, and the result is called the quotient.
Division (mathematics)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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