If we have 53 blocks in total and we remove 38 of those blocks, how many blocks remain? Remember you can break down a row of 10 blocks into single units.
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If we have 53 blocks in total and we remove 38 of those blocks, how many blocks remain? Remember you can break down a row of 10 blocks into single units.
Let's solve the subtraction problem to find out how many blocks remain:
Given:
We need to perform the subtraction of from :
Set up the subtraction column:
Final calculation gives .
Therefore, the number of blocks remaining is .
If we have 85 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 4 tens and 1 one?
Because we're subtracting 38 from 53, not the other way around! The in is smaller than the in , so we need to borrow from the tens place first.
You need to borrow when the top digit is smaller than the bottom digit in any column. In this case, in the units column, so borrowing is required.
Borrowing means trading one ten-block for 10 single unit blocks. So tens and units becomes tens and units - same total value!
Add your answer back to what you subtracted: ✓. If you get your original number, the subtraction is correct!
The diagram shows visual groupings to help you see tens and units clearly. The large rectangles represent ten-blocks, and the small squares represent single unit blocks.
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