Subtraction

A subtraction exercise is an exercise where we take away something from a certain amount.
When we see the sign $-$ we are shown that it's a subtraction exercise where we need to subtract something from a certain amount.

Let's look at an example –

Diana has $7$ orange balls

Orange dots arranged in a 3x3 grid representing subtraction in math concepts for visual learning.

Eric took $3$ balls from Diana.

Three orange dots in a horizontal line used to visually represent subtraction in math education.

How many balls does Diana have left?

Let's look again at Diana's balls
We know that Eric took $3$ balls from her, so let's put aside the three balls that Eric took and count how many Diana has left.

Math subtraction example using orange dots above the names Diana and Eric to visually represent quantities. Ideal for educational content.

Diana has $4$ balls left, therefore we obtain the following result:
$7-3=4$

Detailed explanation

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Test yourself on subtraction!

If we have 46 blocks in total and we remove 2 tens, how many blocks will remain?

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Subtraction

Now let's move on to a slightly harder exercise:
Solve the following exercise $13-3=$

Let's use balls-
We have a group of $13$ balls

Visual representation of subtraction with 13 orange dots arranged in three rows for educational purposes in mathematics

From it we will subtract $3$ balls and put them aside.
We should be left with:

Subtraction example with 10 orange dots arranged in two rows, illustrating a mathematical concept for educational purposes.

$10$ balls.

Excellent!
Now we'll proceed to the subtraction operation without needing to draw circles.

When I have any number, for example $17$ , and want to subtract $4$ from it
Like in the exercise $17-4=$
Let's imagine we already have $17$ and we simply want to subtract $4$
Let's count:

First we subtract $1$ and obtain $16$

Illustration of a black hand silhouette with the number 16 beside it, used for teaching subtraction in educational contexts.

Let's continue to subtract $1$ and we'll obtain $15$

"Illustration of a black hand silhouette labeled with numbers 15 and 16, used for subtraction practice in educational contexts."

Let's continue to subtract $1$ and we obtain $14$

"Illustration of a black hand silhouette labeled with numbers 14, 15, and 16, designed to teach subtraction concepts visually in math education."

Let's continue to subtract $1$ and we'll obtain $13$

Hand subtraction method illustrating counting down from 16 to 13 using numbered fingers for visual math learning

The answer
$17-4=13$

Let's do another exercise –
What is the solution to
$18-5=$
Let's imagine we have $18$ and we're simply subtracting $5$ from it
Subtract $1$ – we obtain $17$
First subtract $1$ and we obtain $16$
Continue subtracting $1$ and we obtain $15$
Continue subtracting $1$ and we obtain $13$

We subtracted $5$ and obtained $13$ !
Therefore:

$18-5=13$

Now we'll move on to slightly more advanced exercises!

Imagine that Melanie has $65$ chocolate cubes

Visual representation of subtraction using grouped blocks and individual units for teaching basic arithmetic concepts.

Harry took $32$ chocolate cubes from Melanie.

Illustration of subtraction using grouped and individual units, showcasing reduced quantities for basic math education.

How can we determine how many chocolate cubes Melanie has left without drawing or subtracting 1 each time?
Observe the following method -

The numbers we have contain tens and ones.
Let's see how many tens Melanie has – $60$
And how many tens Harry took from her – $30$
Subtract and obtain the following $60-30=30$
Let's proceed to the ones – Melanie had
and $5$ ones and Harry took $2$ from her.
We'll subtract and obtain the following result $5-2=3$

Now we'll add the sum of tens with the sum of ones that Melanie has left:
$30+3=33$
This is the result for the exercise $65-32=33$

Let's learn another way:
Vertical subtraction!
When we are presented with a subtraction problem like this:
$37-6=$

Write it in vertical form in the following way - ones under ones and tens under tens if they are present.

Vertical subtraction problem illustrating 37 minus 6 equals 31, used as an educational resource for teaching subtraction concepts in math.

Let's subtract ones from ones –
$7-6=1$
and tens from tens
$3-0=3$

We obtain the following $37-6$
is $31$ .

Let's solve another exercise:
$46-24=$

Let's write vertically, placing all ones under ones and tens under tens, as seen below:

Vertical subtraction example solving 46 minus 24 equals 22, demonstrating basic arithmetic for educational purposes.

Calculate $6-4$
We obtain $2$
Determine $4-2$
We obtain $2$

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Test your knowledge

Question 1

If we have 55 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 5 tens and 4 ones?

Question 2

If we have 67 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 5 tens and 4 ones?

Question 3

If we have 79 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 2 tens and 3 ones?

Examples with solutions for Subtraction

Exercise #1

If we have 67 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 5 tens and 4 ones?

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, let's consider the following steps:

Step 1: Understand the removal of blocks. We are removing 5 tens and 4 ones. One "ten" equals 10 units, so 5 tens equal $5 \times 10 = 50$ units.
Step 2: Calculate the total number of blocks to be removed. We have 50 (from tens) + 4 (ones) = 54 units to be removed.
Step 3: Perform the subtraction from the total number of blocks. The total number of blocks is 67. Therefore, we calculate $67 - 54 = 13$ .

After performing the above calculations, we confirm that the number of blocks remaining is $13$ .

Answer

$13$

Exercise #2

If we have 85 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 4 tens and 1 one?

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, we begin by calculating the total number of blocks to remove.

Step 1: Calculate the blocks in 4 tens.

A "ten" refers to 10 blocks. Thus, 4 tens equal $4 \times 10 = 40$ blocks.

Step 2: Calculate the total blocks to remove by combining tens and ones.

We are also removing 1 more block, so the total becomes $40 + 1 = 41$ blocks.

Step 3: Subtract the total removed blocks from the initial total to determine how many blocks remain.

$85 - 41 = 44$ .

Therefore, the number of blocks remaining is $44$ .

Answer

$44$

Exercise #3

If we have 55 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 5 tens and 4 ones?

Step-by-Step Solution

To determine how many blocks remain, follow these steps:

Step 1: Calculate how many blocks 5 tens represent: $5 \times 10 = 50$ .
Step 2: Add the 4 individual blocks being removed: $50 + 4 = 54$ .
Step 3: Subtract the total removed blocks from the original number of blocks: $55 - 54 = 1$ .

After performing these calculations, we find that the number of blocks remaining is $1$ .

Therefore, the solution to the problem is $1$ .

Answer

$1$

Exercise #4

What number will we get if we subtract 2 tens and 5 units from the number 36.

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, we begin by determining what needs to be subtracted from the number 36. We have "2 tens" and "5 units" to subtract:

2 tens is equal to 20 because one ten is equal to 10.
5 units are simply the number 5 added directly.

Therefore, the total amount to subtract is $20 + 5 = 25$ .

Next, we perform the subtraction operation:

Starting with the number 36, subtract 25:

$36 - 25 = 11$

After performing the subtraction, we conclude that the final result is:

$11$ .

Answer

$11$

Exercise #5

If we have 79 blocks in total, how many blocks will remain if we remove 2 tens and 3 ones?

Step-by-Step Solution

Let's solve the problem step by step:

We begin with a total of $79$ blocks.

First, we need to determine how many blocks are removed:

Two tens, which equals $2 \times 10 = 20$ blocks.
Three ones, equaling $3$ blocks.

Add the blocks removed together: $20 + 3 = 23$ blocks removed in total.

Now, subtract the total blocks removed from the starting total:

\text{Total remaining} = 79 - 23 = 56

Therefore, the number of blocks remaining is $56$ .

Answer

$56$

Start practice

Subtraction

Subtraction

Test yourself on subtraction!

Subtraction

Examples with solutions for Subtraction

Exercise #1

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

Exercise #2

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

Exercise #3

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

Exercise #4

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

Exercise #5

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

More Questions

Subtraction