How to use the decimal indicator

The transparent slider right under the red arrow is used to keep track of the decimal point when doing division.

Before performing division, always scale both numbers by a power of ten so the dividend and divisor don't have leading zeros.

To use the decimal locator, slide the square box over the lower row of numbers so it shows the number of whole digits in the dividend minus the number of whole digits in the divisor. If the difference is negative, use one of the red digits.

Now perform the division as usual. The red arrow points down to a number on the top row of digits. This is the decimal point position counting left from the right-most digit of the result.

Here are two examples:

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Divide:

.233 / .0032

Get rid of the leading zeros in the divisor:

23.3 / .32

Set the square box over:

2 - 0 = 2

Now perform the division to get the result digits:

0728125

The red arrow is over the number 4, so we put the decimal four places from the right to get the answer:

72.8125

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Divide:

.003255 / 2.2

Get rid of the leading zeros in the dividend:

.3255 / 220

Set the square box over:

(0-3) = -3 (Use the red 3)

Now perform the division to get the result digits:

1479545455

The red pointer is past the end of the upper scale, but counting off from where the scale ends we see that the value should be "12", so we place off 12 digits from the right to get the answer:

0.001479545455

You can always stop sooner if you don't need this many decimals in the result. The red pointer will always indicate the correct decimal position.