Subtraction Within 10

What is Subtracting?

Have you ever given away some of your toys or candies to a friend? When you do that, you're subtracting! Let’s see: if you have 8 cubes, and you give 5 cubes to your friend, how many cubes do you have left?

$-$

$=$

Answer

Now you have 3 cubes left! In math, we write it like this: $$8-5=3$$

$-$

$=$

Definition Subtraction

Subtraction means taking something away. When we subtract, we find out how many are left.

The $-$ symbol means "subtract."
The $=$ symbol shows that the two sides are the same.

We can represent subtraction as:

Numbers: $8 - 5 = 3$
Cubes: $-$ $=$
Fingers: $-$ $=$
Words: eight minus five equals three

How to Subtract?

Method Using the fingers

We want to find out what $8-2$ is. Let’s use our fingers!

Hold up 8 fingers:
Put down 2 fingers:
Count how many fingers are still up: $6$

So, $8-2=6$.

Subtracting using the Number Line

Method Subtracting using the Number Line

We want to find $7-3$.

Place a marker on 7.
Move 3 steps backward.

So, $7-3 = 4$.