Taking the ratio 
of two numbers 
and 
,
also written 
.
Here, 
is called the dividend,
is called the divisor,
and 
is called a quotient.
The symbol "/" is called a solidus (sometimes,
the "diagonal"), and the symbol "
" is called the obelus.
If left unevaluated, 
is called a fraction, with 
known as the numerator and 
known as the denominator.
Division in which the fractional (remainder) is discarded is called integer division, and is sometimes denoted using a backslash, 
.
Division is the inverse operation of multiplication, so that if
 |
then 
can be recovered as
 |
as long as 
.
In general, division by zero is not defined since
the ability to "invert" 
to recover 
breaks down if 
(in which case 
is always 0, independent of 
).
Cutting or separating an object into two or more parts is also called division.
