You have seven apples in a bas­ket. You give five of them to your friends. How many are still in the bas­ket? Ques­tions like this come up every day: sweets shared out, birds fly­ing off a wire, pen­cils lent to a class­mate. Find­ing how many are left is called tak­ing away. In this les­son you learn every take-away sum up to nine, and two sim­ple rules that make many of them easy.

Tak­ing away is the oppo­site of adding. On the num­ber lad­der from the last les­son, adding climbs up and tak­ing away climbs down. To work out 9−39 - 3, stand on 9 and take three steps down: 8, 7, 6. So 9−3=69 - 3 = 6.

Number line from 0 to 9 with a blue dot on 9, three red backward hops to 8, 7 and 6, and a green dot on 6 marked answer
Stand on 9 and take three steps back. You land on 6, so 9 take away 3 is 6.

The proper name for tak­ing away is sub­trac­tion, and the sign is a small dash: −-. It is read as "minus" or "take away".

Three ways to take away

There is more than one way to find the answer. Use whichever one helps you most. All of them give the same answer.

Using real things

Put out the first num­ber of things. Take away the sec­ond num­ber of things. Count what is left.

Exam­ple 1: 7−57 - 5

Put 7 apples on the table. Take 5 of them away, one at a time: one, two, three, four, five. Now count the apples still on the table: one, two. So 7−5=27 - 5 = 2.

Seven apples in a row: two red apples on the left and five grey apples crossed out, with the labels 2 left, 5 taken away and 7 - 5 = 2
Seven apples, five crossed out. Two apples are left, so 7 take away 5 is 2.

Count­ing back on a num­ber line

Put your fin­ger on the first num­ber. Take one step back for each thing you take away. The num­ber you stop on is the answer.

Exam­ple 2: 8−38 - 3

Start on 8. Step back three times and say the num­bers as you go: 7, 6, 5. You stop on 5. So 8−3=58 - 3 = 5.

Say only the num­bers you land on. Do not say 8 as a step. You are already stand­ing on 8 before you move.

Using adding

Every take-away sum has an adding sum hid­ing inside it. To work out 9−49 - 4, ask: 4 and what make 9? You know that 4+5=94 + 5 = 9. So 9−4=59 - 4 = 5.

Exam­ple 3: 6−26 - 2

Ask: 2 and what make 6? Count on from 2: 3, 4, 5, 6. That is four more. So 6−2=46 - 2 = 4. Check it: 2+4=62 + 4 = 6. It is right.

This is a good way to check any take-away answer. Add the answer to the num­ber you took away. You should get back the num­ber you started with.

Tak­ing away zero

Noth­ing is taken, so noth­ing changes.

0−0=00 - 0 = 05−0=55 - 0 = 5
1−0=11 - 0 = 16−0=66 - 0 = 6
2−0=22 - 0 = 27−0=77 - 0 = 7
3−0=33 - 0 = 38−0=88 - 0 = 8
4−0=44 - 0 = 49−0=99 - 0 = 9

Think of a plate with 5 lad­doos. Nobody takes any. There are still 5 lad­doos on the plate.

Remem­ber. When you take zero away from a num­ber, the answer is that same num­ber.

Tak­ing away one

One step down the lad­der, so the answer is the num­ber you say just before it when count­ing.

1−1=01 - 1 = 06−1=56 - 1 = 5
2−1=12 - 1 = 17−1=67 - 1 = 6
3−1=23 - 1 = 28−1=78 - 1 = 7
4−1=34 - 1 = 39−1=89 - 1 = 8
5−1=45 - 1 = 4

Count back­wards: nine, eight. The num­ber before 9 is 8, so 9−1=89 - 1 = 8.

Tak­ing away two

Two steps down the lad­der. You can also think of it as tak­ing away one, and then one more.

2−2=02 - 2 = 06−2=46 - 2 = 4
3−2=13 - 2 = 17−2=57 - 2 = 5
4−2=24 - 2 = 28−2=68 - 2 = 6
5−2=35 - 2 = 39−2=79 - 2 = 7

Tak­ing away three

3−3=03 - 3 = 07−3=47 - 3 = 4
4−3=14 - 3 = 18−3=58 - 3 = 5
5−3=25 - 3 = 29−3=69 - 3 = 6
6−3=36 - 3 = 3

Tak­ing away four

4−4=04 - 4 = 07−4=37 - 4 = 3
5−4=15 - 4 = 18−4=48 - 4 = 4
6−4=26 - 4 = 29−4=59 - 4 = 5

Tak­ing away five

Hold up one hand with all five fin­gers show­ing. Fold all five down and none are left: 5−5=05 - 5 = 0. Now hold up 8 fin­gers and fold down one whole hand. Three fin­gers stay up: 8−5=38 - 5 = 3.

5−5=05 - 5 = 08−5=38 - 5 = 3
6−5=16 - 5 = 19−5=49 - 5 = 4
7−5=27 - 5 = 2

Tak­ing away six

6−6=06 - 6 = 08−6=28 - 6 = 2
7−6=17 - 6 = 19−6=39 - 6 = 3

Tak­ing away seven

7−7=07 - 7 = 09−7=29 - 7 = 2
8−7=18 - 7 = 1

Tak­ing away eight

8−8=08 - 8 = 09−8=19 - 8 = 1

When you take away a big num­ber, count­ing back is slow. Count up instead. For 9−89 - 8, start at 8 and count up to 9. That is one step, so the answer is 1.

Tak­ing away nine

9−9=09 - 9 = 0

Two rules hid­ing in the tables

Look down the first sum of every table above. Each one is a num­ber take away itself, and every answer is zero.

Remem­ber. A num­ber take away itself is always zero. A num­ber take away zero is always the num­ber itself.

Look along a table instead and you will see the answers going up by one each time, because the num­ber you start from goes up by one while the num­ber you take away stays the same.

Look at the table for tak­ing away three. The answers go 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Each time you start with one more, you have one more left.

A word prob­lem

Exam­ple 4. Meena has 9 bal­loons. 4 bal­loons fly away. How many bal­loons does Meena have now?

Step 1: She starts with 9. Step 2: 4 go away, so we take away 4. Step 3: Count back from 9 four times: 8, 7, 6, 5.

9−4=59 - 4 = 5. Meena has 5 bal­loons now.

Check: 5+4=95 + 4 = 9. That is how many she started with, so the answer is right.

Exam­ple 5. There are 6 birds on a wire. All 6 fly away. How many birds are left on the wire?

We start with 6 and take away 6. A num­ber take away itself is zero. So 6−6=06 - 6 = 0. No birds are left on the wire. Check: 0+6=60 + 6 = 6, which is the num­ber we started with.

When you read a word prob­lem, look for words such as left, gave away, flew off, ate or fewer. They tell you to take away.

Your turn

1) 9−09 - 07) 8−88 - 813) 7−77 - 7
2) 8−38 - 38) 7−37 - 314) 9−69 - 6
3) 7−57 - 59) 6−66 - 615) 5−35 - 3
4) 6−26 - 210) 9−79 - 716) 8−18 - 1
5) 9−49 - 411) 4−24 - 217) 6−46 - 4
6) 5−15 - 112) 8−58 - 518) 9−99 - 9

Com­mon mis­takes

  • Count­ing the start­ing num­ber as a step. For 8−38 - 3, the steps are 7, 6, 5, not 8, 7, 6.
  • Swap­ping the num­bers round. In 7−57 - 5 you start with 7. You can­not start with 5 and take away 7 here.
  • Think­ing a num­ber take away zero is zero. Tak­ing away noth­ing leaves the num­ber as it was: 6−0=66 - 0 = 6.
  • Adding when the ques­tion says take away. Look at the sign first. A dash means take away.
  • For­get­ting to check. Add your answer to the num­ber you took away. You should get the start­ing num­ber back.

Key terms

Sub­trac­tion
Tak­ing one amount away from another to find how many are left.
Minus sign
The small dash −-, read as "minus" or "take away".
Dif­fer­ence
The answer to a take-away sum. In 9−3=69 - 3 = 6 the dif­fer­ence is 6.
Count­ing back
Step­ping down a num­ber line or lad­der, one step for each thing taken away.
Zero
The num­ber for noth­ing at all. Tak­ing a num­ber from itself leaves zero.

Answers

  1. 9−0=99 - 0 = 9
  2. 8−3=58 - 3 = 5
  3. 7−5=27 - 5 = 2
  4. 6−2=46 - 2 = 4
  5. 9−4=59 - 4 = 5
  6. 5−1=45 - 1 = 4
  7. 8−8=08 - 8 = 0
  8. 7−3=47 - 3 = 4
  9. 6−6=06 - 6 = 0
  10. 9−7=29 - 7 = 2
  11. 4−2=24 - 2 = 2
  12. 8−5=38 - 5 = 3
  13. 7−7=07 - 7 = 0
  14. 9−6=39 - 6 = 3
  15. 5−3=25 - 3 = 2
  16. 8−1=78 - 1 = 7
  17. 6−4=26 - 4 = 2
  18. 9−9=09 - 9 = 0