When you see that 36=4×9, you can divide progressively by 4 and 9 to get your answer.
Your 9 times table tells you to divide by 9 first because 9 goes into 54. So 540÷9=60.
Now divide 60 by 4 and we get 15. So 540/36=15.
Another way is to use chunking, which is a progressive subtraction method.
We first subtract a nice multiple of 36 from 540. A nice easy multiple would be 10, so 10×36=360 (we just added a zero). Subtract 360 from 540=180. Remember the 10. We need to add these partial quotients together.
Now another nice multiple of 36. 2 is easy to work with, and 2 times 36=72 so subtract 72 from 180=108. Remember the 2.
We can repeat that, 108-72=36. Remember 2 again.
Now it’s easy. 36 goes into 36 just once with no remainder. Remember 1.
Add the numbers we remember: 10+2+2+1=15. So the result 540/36=15.
This is how you might write it down to show your working:
36 | 540
-360 10+
180
-72 2+
108
-72 2+
36 1
-36
0 15, 15 remainder zero.