Subtraction with Parentheses Practice Problems & Solutions

Subtraction of whole numbers with subtractions in parentheses refers to a situation where we perform the mathematical operation of subtraction on the difference of some terms that are in parentheses.

For example:

$12 - (3-2) =$

One way to solve this exercise will be to distribute the parentheses. To do this, we must remember that according to the law of signs of addition/ subtraction, after removing parentheses, the expressions that were inside them change their sign.

That is, in our example:

$12 - (3-2) =$

$12 - 3 + 2 =$

$9 + 2 = 11$

When distributing the parentheses, we will place a $-$ in front of the number $3$ and a $+$ before the $2$.
As you can see, in both cases the sign that was inside the parentheses has switched to the opposite sign.

Another way to solve this exercise is to use the order of operations, that is to say:

$12 - (3-2) =$

We will start by solving the expression in parentheses by using the order of operations and we will get:

$12 - 1 = 11$