Subtraction with Base-10 Blocks: 34 - 16 Using Visual Models

If we have 34 blocks in total and we remove 16 of those blocks, how many blocks remain? Remember you can break down a row of 10 blocks into single units.

First, we start with the total number of blocks, which is $34$.

We need to remove $16$ blocks from this total. Therefore, we perform the subtraction:

$34 - 16$.

Let's break this down:
$34$ is composed of $3$ tens (i.e., $30$) and $4$ ones.
Subtracting $16$ means subtracting $1$ ten and $6$ from these $34$ blocks.

First, subtract $10$ from $34$, which leaves us with $24$. Then, subtract $6$ from $24$, giving:

$24 - 6 = 18$.

Therefore, after removing $16$ blocks, we are left with $18$ blocks.

The solution to the problem is $18$.