Dividend

A dividend is a payment made by a corporation to its shareholders, usually as a distribution of profits. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it can re-invest it in the business (called retained earnings), and pay a fraction of this reinvestment as a dividend to shareholders. Distribution to shareholders can be in cash (usually a deposit into a bank account) or, if the corporation has a dividend reinvestment plan, the amount can be paid by the issue of further shares or share repurchase.

A dividend is allocated as a fixed amount per share, with shareholders receiving a dividend in proportion to their shareholding. For the joint stock company, paying dividends is not an expense; rather, it is the division of after tax profits among shareholders. Retained earnings (profits that have not been distributed as dividends) are shown in the shareholders' equity section on the company's balance sheet - the same as its issued share capital. Public companies usually pay dividends on a fixed schedule, but may declare a dividend at any time, sometimes called a special dividend to distinguish it from the fixed schedule dividends. Cooperatives, on the other hand, allocate dividends according to members' activity, so their dividends are often considered to be a pre-tax expense.

Division (mathematics)

In mathematics, especially in elementary arithmetic, division (denoted ÷ or / or —) is an arithmetic operation. Specifically, if b times c equals a, written:

where b is not zero, then a divided by b equals c, written:

For instance,

since

In the above expressions, a is called the dividend, b is called the divisor, and c is called the quotient; in the expression or a is also called the numerator and b is also called the denominator.

Conceptually, division of integers can be viewed in either of two distinct but related ways quotition and partition: