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calendar_month Last update: 2025-12-23
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Adding and subtracting efficiently booklet

Adding and subtracting efficiently booklet

calendar_month 2025-12-23
visibility 9
bug_report Crash report
  • Unit 1: Numbers
  • Unit 2: Geometry and measure
  • Unit 3 : Statistics and probability

🎯 In this topic you will

  • Use the column method of calculation to add and subtract whole numbers accurately.
 

🧠 Key Words

  • carry
  • efficient
Show Definitions
  • carry: To move a value to the next column in column addition when the total in a column is ten or more.
  • efficient: Describes a method that solves a calculation accurately using the fewest clear and logical steps.
 

Building on Number Skills

I n this unit, you will add and subtract whole numbers. You will revise methods you used earlier this year and extend them to include using a column method.

 

Why Addition and Subtraction Matter

B eing able to add and subtract quickly is a useful skill for everyday life. You might use addition to work out how much it costs to buy lunch in a café.

 

Building on Number Skills

I n this unit, you will add and subtract whole numbers. You will revise methods you used earlier this year and extend them to include using a column method.

 

Why Addition and Subtraction Matter

B eing able to add and subtract quickly is a useful skill for everyday life. You might use addition to work out how much it costs to buy lunch in a café.

 
📘 Worked example

Work out $367 - 185$.

Method 1.

Decompose the numbers.
$367 = 300 + 60 + 7$
$185 = 100 + 80 + 5$

Regroup to subtract the tens.
$300 + 60 + 7 = 200 + 160 + 7$

Subtract and then combine the parts.
$(200 - 100) + (160 - 80) + (7 - 5)$
$= 100 + 80 + 2 = 182$

Method 2.

Write the numbers in columns.

  3  6  7
− 1  8  5

Subtract the ones.
$7 - 5 = 2$

Regroup to subtract the tens.
$3$ hundreds $6$ tens is the same as $2$ hundreds $16$ tens.

Subtract the tens and hundreds.
$16 - 8 = 8$ tens
$2 - 1 = 1$ hundred

Answer:

$182$

Regrouping allows you to exchange one hundred for ten tens so that subtraction can be carried out accurately in each column. Both methods show the same calculation and lead to the same correct result.

 

EXERCISES

1. For each of these questions, estimate the size of the answer then complete the calculation.

a. Find the sum of $456$ and $789$.

b. What is the total of $763$ and $869$?

c. What is $678$ more than $456$?

👀 Show answer

a. $456 + 789 = 1245$

b. $763 + 869 = 1632$

c. $456 + 678 = 1134$

2.

a. Subtract $456$ from $789$.

b. Find the difference between $678$ and $923$.

c. $906$ minus $858$.

👀 Show answer

a. $789 - 456 = 333$

b. $923 - 678 = 245$

c. $906 - 858 = 48$

3. What is the difference between $1000$ and the smallest $3$-digit number that does not use the digit $0$?

👀 Show answer

The smallest $3$-digit number without $0$ is $111$.
$1000 - 111 = 889$

4. Write the missing number. You can use any method.

$457 + \Box = 713$

👀 Show answer

$713 - 457 = 256$

5. Spot the mistakes and then do the calculations correctly.

 

👀 Show answer

a. $882 - 435 = 447$

b. $531 + 278 = 809$

6. Naomi has six digit cards.

She makes two $3$-digit numbers and adds them together.

a. What is the largest total Naomi can make?

b. What is the smallest total she can make?

👀 Show answer

a. Largest: $654 + 321 = 975$

b. Smallest: $123 + 456 = 579$

 

🧠 Think like a Mathematician

The numbers $1$ to $9$ are arranged as they are on a calculator.

  • Choose a line of three numbers, for example $753$.
  • Reverse the numbers: $357$.
  • Add the numbers and record the result.
  • Repeat the instructions with other lines of three numbers.

What do you notice about the results?

  • You will show you are specialising when you find solutions to the problem.
  • You will show you are generalising when you recognise patterns in your results.
  • If you explain your results, you will show you are convincing.
Show Answers
  • When you add a three-digit number formed from a straight line on the calculator and its reverse, the total is always a multiple of $11$.
  • This happens because the hundreds and ones digits swap places, so their difference is repeated, while the tens digit stays the same in both numbers.
  • For example, $753 + 357 = 1110$, and $159 + 951 = 1110$, showing the same total.
 

📘 What we've learned

  • We learned how to estimate the size of an answer before carrying out a calculation.
  • We practiced adding whole numbers accurately using efficient written methods.
  • We practiced subtracting whole numbers accurately using efficient written methods.
  • We used column methods to support clear working and check our answers.
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