How to subtract

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ISEE Lower Level Quantitative Reasoning › How to subtract

Questions 1 - 10

The bowl is inches long and the plate is inches long. How much longer is the plate than the bowl?

inches

Explanation

This is a subtraction problem because we want to know how much longer the plate is compared to the bowl, or the difference in their length.

$\frac{\begin{array}[b]{r}25\ -\ 13\end{array}}{ \ \ \ \space 12}$

Sam bought a video game and an MP3 player from the store with money from his birthday. He spent $264.21, including tax. The following day, he had to return the video game. His new total spent was $197.89 for the MP3 player. When he returned the video game, how much money did he get back?

$66.32

$166.32

$65.32

$133.68

Explanation

To find the difference, you must subtract. Line up the numbers vertically. Remember to use the rules of borrowing to subtract.

Sam got $66.32 back when he returned the video game.

The dog’s body is inches long and his tail is inches long. How much longer is his body than his tail?

inches

Explanation

This is a subtraction problem because we want to know how much longer the dog's body is compared to his tail, or the difference in their length.

$\frac{\begin{array}[b]{r}39\ -\ 27\end{array}}{ \ \ \ \ \ \space 5}$

The coffee cup is centimeters tall and the water glass is centimeters tall. How much taller is the water glass than the coffee cup?

centimeters

Explanation

This is a subtraction problem because we want to know how much taller the water glass is compared to the coffee cup, or the difference in their height.

$\frac{\begin{array}[b]{r}80\ -\ 51\end{array}}{ \ \ \ \space 29}$

The coffee cup is centimeters tall and the water glass is centimeters tall. How much taller is the water glass than the coffee cup?

centimeters

Explanation

This is a subtraction problem because we want to know how much taller the water glass is compared to the coffee cup, or the difference in their height.

$\frac{\begin{array}[b]{r}62\ -\ 39\end{array}}{ \ \ \ \space 23}$

The dog’s body is inches long and his tail is inches long. How much longer is his body than his tail?

inches

Explanation

This is a subtraction problem because we want to know how much longer the dog's body is compared to his tail, or the difference in their length.

$\frac{\begin{array}[b]{r}22\ -\ 17\end{array}}{ \ \ \ \ \ \space 5}$

Martha baked a batch of 24 cookies and gave one fourth to her sister. How many cookies does she have left?

Explanation

If Martha baked a batch of 24 cookies and gave one fourth to her sister, she gave $24\cdot \frac{1}{4}=6$ cookies to her sister.

Given that , the number of remaining cookies is 18.

The pet store has goldfish in a tank. A teacher bought goldfish for her school’s fish tank. How many goldfish does the pet store have left?

Explanation

This is a subtraction problem because we want to know how many goldfish the pet store has left over after the teacher buys the first and takes them away from the store. We take the number of goldfish that the store had and then subtract the number that the teacher bought. .

Janet wins a bag of 60 marbles and wants to give some to Julie so that each girl will have the same number of marbles. Julie already has 40 marbles; Janet already has 30. How many of the 60 marbles will Janet keep?

Explanation

After Janet wins the 60 marbles, the girls together own marbles. Each should therefore own half this, or $130 \div 2 = 65$ marbles. Since Janet has 30 marbles already, she will keep marbles.