Basic Subtraction

Basic subtraction involves taking an amount represented by one number and removing part of that amount to arrive at a final amount or difference.

For example:

8 - 3 = 5

If we count out 8 objects such as squares we have the following:



Then we can count out 3 squares to represent the second number in the subtraction sentence:



We can now count all the squares not crossed out to arrive at our answer of 5.

Subtraction Using Your Fingers

For many just beginning with subtraction, using your fingers is the best way to figure out a problem. For problems with numbers (or operands) less than 10 this works out well. Simply hold up the number of fingers as represented by the first digit of the problem and count them. Next using the fingers that are up already, put down the number of fingers indicated by the second digit of the problem. Finally count the remaining fingers that are up to arrive at your answer  Taking the above example we could hold up 8 fingers, perhaps 5 on the left hand and 3 on the right hand. We can then put down the 3 fingers on the right hand to reveal 5 fingers still up which is our answer.

For problems where you have numbers greater than 10 another technique can be used. This method only applies to problems where the second operand is less than or equal to 10. This technique involves taking the first number and simply saying start with 8 (as in our example above). We now want to subtract 3, so with either hand we hold up 3 fingers and start counting down 7..6..5. When finished counting our fingers, we will have arrived at our answer.