Multiplying Prices and Sharing Bills

Multiply the price of one item by how many you buy. To share a bill equally, divide the total by the number of people.

Primary
Updated 14 November 2026

What you will learn

Multiply a price by a quantity.
Share a bill equally.
Check answers with estimates.

Before you start: you should know your times tables and how to work with decimals. See Adding Prices and Finding Change.

The idea

When you buy several items at the same price, multiply. When a group shares a cost, divide. These two ideas are inverses, so each checks the other.

Each extra notebook adds £2.50. Four notebooks cost £10.

A restaurant bill of £36 shared between $4$ friends is $36 \div 4 = 9$ , so each pays £9. Check: $4 \times 9 = 36$ .

A £36 bill shared between 4 people is £9 each.

When it does not divide exactly

If the share has more than two decimal places, round to the nearest penny. $£10 \div 3 = 3.333...$ rounds to £3.33. Three shares of £3.33 make £9.99, so someone pays a penny extra.

Worked examples

Example 1: Several items

$4$ notebooks at £2.50 each.

$4 \times 2.50$ .
$= 10.00$ .

Answer: £10

£45.60 shared between $3$ people.

$45.60 \div 3$ .
$= 15.20$ .

Answer: £15.20 each

Example 3: Rounding

£10 shared between $3$ people.

$10 \div 3 = 3.333...$
Round to the nearest penny: £3.33.

Answer: £3.33 each, with a penny left over

Tip: check division with multiplication: share times people should equal the bill.

Why it matters

Shops, restaurants and trips all use multiplying and sharing. Next, budgeting plans money over a month.

Practice

Your turn. Type or choose an answer, then press Check. Getting one wrong is fine, that is what practice is for. You can try as many times as you like.