Addition or Subtraction?
Practise deciding between addition and subtraction.
🎯 What You'll Learn
You will get better at deciding whether a problem needs addition or subtraction.
🏪 Market Story
Tunde and Emeka are shopping together. They face different situations: sometimes they need to add prices together, sometimes they need to figure out change. Let's help them decide!
📝 Let's Learn
Add when: You're putting groups together, finding a total, or things are increasing.
Subtract when: You're taking away, finding what's left, finding change, or comparing two amounts.
Problem 1: "Tunde has ₦45 and earns ₦30 more." Things are increasing → Add: ₦45 + ₦30 = ₦75.
Problem 2: "Emeka has ₦80 and spends ₦35 on food." Things are decreasing → Subtract: ₦80 − ₦35 = ₦45.
Problem 3: "Amina scored 72 in English and 85 in Maths. How much more did she score in Maths?" Comparing → Subtract: 85 − 72 = 13 more marks.
Problem 4: "Bola has 23 red beads and 37 blue beads. How many beads in total?" Combining → Add: 23 + 37 = 60 beads.
✏️ Practice Questions
- Chidi has ₦120. He gets ₦65 from his father. How much does he have now? (Add or subtract?)
- A market trader has 80 oranges. She sells 45. How many are left? (Add or subtract?)
- Funke's class has 28 girls and 24 boys. How many students are there in all? (Add or subtract?)
Click to see answers
- Add. ₦120 + ₦65 = ₦185.
- Subtract. 80 − 45 = 35 oranges left.
- Add. 28 + 24 = 52 students.
💡 Remember
If amounts are coming together, add. If amounts are being taken away or you're finding a difference, subtract. Ask yourself: "Is the answer going to be bigger or smaller than what I started with?"