Shall I multiply or divide?

Being a full-time teacher, I instruct my students to become better problem solvers.  When offering assistance, my question to them always inquires whether they need to add, subtract, multiply, or divide.  Given a choice to multiply or divide, which one will you choose?

Let's take a look at a couple examples, then you decide.
Mr. Johnson is cutting a 48 inch board into 4 equal pieces.  How long will each board be when he is done?
Solution: Your choices are to multiply or divide.  To solve it using division, setup the problem as 48/4 = 12.  You can also multiply 48 x 1/4, which is also 12.  Which math operation do you prefer to use?

Here's another example.
There are 150 students who are attending a field trip today to the local zoo.  There are 3 buses taking the students.  How many students can ride on each bus?
Solution: Using division, the solution is 150/3 = 50.  To solve the problem using multiplication, you can multiply 150 x 1/3, which equals 50.

Math often allows flexibility to solve problems.  Sometimes you may prefer to multiply, other times you may divide. 

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