Definition
Subtraction
Subtraction finds what remains, how far apart two quantities are, or which part is missing.
What it means
Think of subtraction as finding a gap. Sometimes you start with a total and remove a part. Sometimes you compare two amounts and ask how much larger one is. Sometimes you know the total and one part, and need the other part. The same symbol, −, can describe all three.
Remember it
Subtraction finds the gap between what you have, what you remove, and what is left.
Example
A shelf holds 14 books. Nine are storybooks. The missing part is 14 − 9 = 5, so five books are not storybooks.
Watch for
Subtraction is not always a take-away action; 14 − 9 can also compare 14 with 9 or find a missing addend.
Common mix-up
The result is called the difference. It is not automatically the smaller starting number.
Exact meaning
For numbers a and b, subtraction a − b gives the number c such that c + b = a. In whole-number situations, it can represent taking away, comparing quantities, or finding a missing part.