Divisibility Test (Division Rules in Maths)

 As the name suggests, divisibility tests or division rules in Maths help one to check whether a number is divisible by another number
without the actual method of division. If a number is completely divisible by another number then the quotient will be a whole
number and the remainder will be zero.

 Since every number is not completely divisible by every other number such numbers leave remainder other than zero. These rules
are certain ones, which help us to determine the actual divisor of a number just by considering the digits of the number.

Divisibility Rule of 1
Every number is divisible by 1. Divisibility rule for 1 doesn’t have any condition. Any number divided by 1 will give the number itself,
irrespective of how large the number is. For example, 3 is divisible by 1 and 3000 is also divisible by 1 completely.

Divisibility Rule of 2
If a number is even or a number whose last digit is an even number i.e. 2,4,6,8 including 0, it is always completely divisible by 2.
Example: 508 is an even number and is divisible by 2 but 509 is not an even number, hence it is not divisible by 2. Procedure to check
whether 508 is divisible by 2 or not is as follows:

 Consider the number 508

 Just take the last digit 8 and divide it by 2
 If the last digit 8 is divisible by 2 then the number 508 is also divisible by 2.

Divisibility Rules for 3

Divisibility rule for 3 states that a number is completely divisible by 3 if the sum of its digits is divisible by 3.
Consider a number, 308. To check whether 308 is divisible by 3 or not, take sum of the digits (i.e. 3+0+8= 11). Now check whether the sum
is divisible by 3 or not. If the sum is a multiple of 3, then the original number is also divisible by 3. Here, since 11 is not divisible by 3, 308 is
also not divisible by 3.
Similarly, 516 is divisible by 3 completely as the sum of its digits i.e. 5+1+6=12, is a multiple of 3.

Divisibility Rule of 4
If the last two digits of a number are divisible by 4, then that number is a multiple of 4 and is divisible by 4 completely.
Example: Take the number 2308. Consider the last two digits i.e. 08. As 08 is divisible by 4, the original number 2308 is also divisible by 4.

Divisibility Rule of 5
Numbers, which last with digits, 0 or 5 are always divisible by 5.
Example: 10, 10000, 10000005, 595, 396524850, etc.

Divisibility Rule of 6
Numbers which are divisible by both 2 and 3 are divisible by 6. That is, if the last digit of the given number is even and the sum of its digits is
a multiple of 3, then the given number is also a multiple of 6.
Example: 630, the number is divisible by 2 as the last digit is 0.
The sum of digits is 6+3+0 = 9, which is also divisible by 3.
Hence, 630 is divisible by 6.
 Divisibility Rules for 7

Example: Is 1073 divisible by 7?

 From the rule stated remove 3 from the number and double it, which becomes 6.
 Remaining number becomes 107, so 107-6 = 101.
 Repeating the process one more time, we have 1 x 2 = 2.
 Remaining number 10 – 2 = 8.
 As 8 is not divisible by 7, hence the number 1073 is not divisible by 7.

Divisibility Rule of 8
If the last three digits of a number are divisible by 8, then the number is completely divisible by 8.
Example: Take number 24344. Consider the last two digits i.e. 344. As 344 is divisible by 8, the original number 24344 is also divisible by
8.

Divisibility Rule of 9
The rule for divisibility by 9 is similar to divisibility rule for 3. That is, if the sum of digits of the number is divisible by 9, then the number itself
is divisible by 9.
Example: Consider 78532, as the sum of its digits (7+8+5+3+2) is 25, which is not divisible by 9, hence 78532 is not divisible by 9.

Divisibility Rule of 10
Divisibility rule for 10 states that any number whose last digit is 0, is divisible by 10.
Example: 10, 20, 30, 1000, 5000, 60000, etc.

Divisibility Rules for 11

If the difference of the sum of alternative digits of a number is divisible by 11, then that number is divisible by 11 completely.
In order to check whether a number like 2143 is divisible by 11, below is the following procedure.

 Group the alternative digits i.e. digits which are in odd places together and digits in even places together. Here 24 and 13 are two
groups.
 Take the sum of the digits of each group i.e. 2+4=6 and 1+3= 4
 Now find the difference of the sums; 6-4=2
 If the difference is divisible by 11, then the original number is also divisible by 11. Here 2 is the difference which is not divisible by 11.
 Therefore, 2143 is not divisible by 11.
A few more conditions are there to test the divisibility of a number by 11. They are explained here with the help of examples:
If the number of digits of a number is even, then add the first digit and subtract the last digit from the rest of the number.
Example: 3784
Number of digits = 4
Now, 78 + 3 – 4 = 77 = 7 × 11
Thus, 3784 is divisible by 11.
If the number of digits of a number is odd, then subtract the first and the last digits from the rest of the number.
Example: 82907
Number of digits = 5
Now, 290 – 8 – 7 = 275 × 11
Thus, 82907 is divisible by 11.
Form the groups of two digits from the right end digit to the left end of the number and add the resultant groups. If the sum is a
multiple of 11, then the number is divisible by 11.
Example: 3774 := 37 + 74 = 111 := 1 + 11 = 12
3774 is not divisible by 11.
253 := 2 + 53 = 55 = 5 × 11
253 is divisible by 11.
Subtract the last digit of the number from the rest of the number. If the resultant value is a multiple of 11, then the original number
will be divisible by 11.
Example: 9647
9647 := 964 – 7 = 957
957 := 95 – 7 = 88 = 8 × 11
Thus, 9647 is divisible by 11.

Divisibility Rule of 12
If the number is divisible by both 3 and 4, then the number is divisible by 12 exactly.
Example: 5864
Sum of the digits = 5 + 8 + 6 + 4 = 23 (not a multiple of 3)
Last two digits = 64 (divisible by 4)
The given number 5846 is divisible by 4 but not by 3; hence, it is not divisible by 12.

Divisibility Rules for 13

For any given number, to check if it is divisible by 13, we have to add four times of the last digit of the number to the remaining number and
repeat the process until you get a two-digit number. Now check if that two-digit number is divisible by 13 or not. If it is divisible, then the
given number is divisible by 13.
For example: 2795 → 279 + (5 x 4)
→ 279 + (20)
→ 299
→ 29 + (9 x 4)
→ 29 + 36
→65
Number 65 is divisible by 13, 13 x 5 = 65.
 Solved Examples
Example 1:
Check if 288 is divisible by 2.
Solution:
Given, 288 is a number.
If the last digit of 288 is divisible by 2, then 288 is also divisible by 2.
The last digit of 288 is 8, which is divisible by 2, such that;
8/2 = 4
Hence, 288 satisfy the divisibility rule for 2.
Example 2:
Check is 195 is divisible by 4 or not.
Solution:
As we can see, the last digit of 195 is 5, which is not divisible by 4.
Hence, 195 is not divisible by 4.
 Worksheet
{Answer the following Questions based on Divisibility Rules}
a) What is meant by divisibility rules?
b) What is the divisibility rule for 2 and 5?
c) What is the divisibility rule for 7 and give an example?
d) Write down the divisibility rule for 9.
e) What is the divisibility rule for 13?

1. Which of the following numbers are divisible by 2, 5 and 10?

(i) 149 (ii) 19400

(iii) 720345 (iv) 125370

(v) 3000000

2. Check whether the numbers are divisibility by 4:

(i) 23408 (ii) 100246

(iii) 34972 (iv) 150126

(v) 58724 (vi) 19000

(vii) 43938 (viii) 846336

3. In each of the following numbers without doing actual division, determine whether the first number is
divisible by the second number:

(i) 3409122; 6 (ii) 17218; 6

(iii) 11309634; 8 (iv) 515712; 8

(v) 3501804; 4

4. 6 is a factor of 12066 and 49320. Is 6 a factor of 49320 + 12066 and 49320 - 12066?

5. Is 9 a factor of the following?

(i) 394683

(ii) 1872546

(iii) 5172354

6. Fill in the smallest digit to make the number divisible by:

(i) by 5 : 7164__, 32197__ (ii) by 3 : 1__43, 47__05, __316

(iii) by 6 : __428, 9__52, 721__ (iv) by 4 : 2462__, 91__ __, 670__

(v) by 8 : 1232__, 59__16, 4642__

7. Which of the two nearest numbers to 19506 are divisible by 9?

8. Choose the right answer:

(i) The number with unit digit 0 or 5 is divisible by:

(a) 2 (b) 3

(c) 4 (d) 5

(ii) The number with unit digit 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 is divisible by:

(a) 2 (b) 3

(c) 4 (d) 5

(iii) The number with unit digit 0 is divisible by:

(a) 5 (b) 10

(c) 15 (d) 2

(iv) 3681 is divisible by:

(a) 4 (b) 5

(c) 9 (d) 10

(v) 1170 is not divisible by:

(a) 10 (b) 9

(c) 5 (d) 4

(vi) Which of the following numbers is not divisible by 2?

(a) 1086 (b) 2869

(c) 3364 (d) 7000

(vii) Which of the following numbers is not divisible by 3?

(a) 1173 (b) 2391

(c) 3902 (d) 6048

(viii) Which of the following numbers is not divisible by 4?

(a) 1084 (b) 3516

(c) 3328 (d) 7001

(ix) Which of the following numbers is not divisible by 10?

(a) 2015 (b) 3000

(c) 4170 (d) 8990

(x) Which of the following numbers is divisible by 9?

(a) 1284 (b) 3510 (c) 4328 (d) 7301