Divisibility Rule for 17

If you divide a number by 17 and you get a whole number as an answer (quotient), then that number is divisible by 17.

Instead of simply dividing your number by 17 to see if you get a whole number, you can use what we call the Divisibility Rule for 17.

The Divisibility Rule for 17 is used to determine if a number is divisible by 17. You can also call it the test of divisibility for 17.

A number is divisible by 17 if you multiply the last digit by 5 and subtract that from the rest. If that result is divisible by 17, then your number is divisible by 17.

For example, for 986, you do: 98 - (6 x 5) = 68. Since, 68 is divisible by 17, then 986 is also divisible by 17.

However, 876 is not divisible by 17 because 87 - (6 x 5) = 57 and 57 is not divisible by 17.

Divisibility Rule for 18
Here is the next Divisibility Rule on our list.

Divisibility Rules
Here is a list of all our Divisibility Rules.