Question

Two students are solving 156 divided by 6:

• A. Both Smith and Ashley are correct.
• B. Ashley is correct, but Smith is incorrect.
• C. Smith is correct, but Ashley is incorrect.
• D. Both Smith and Ashley are incorrect.

Answer 1

The correct option is B Ashley is correct, but Smith is incorrect.

The representation of of '156 divided by 6' is $156÷6$.

Given,
Smith solves the question as:
$(156÷3)+(156÷3)$
Ashley solves the question as:
$(120÷6)+(36÷6)$

From the distributive property, only the dividend of a divison can be split as the sum of numbers.

$\therefore 156÷6=(120+36)÷6=(120÷6)+(36÷6)$

Hence, Ashley is correct, but Smith is incorrect.