Скачать или смотреть Subtraction-fest 13 ~ Subtraction Terminology Demystified (Explained)

This is the last video in this "subtraction-fest" series.

So far, I have demonstrated a variety of ways that you may subtract numbers and how you can check your answers. This time I wanted to take a little time to explain the terminology that you may sometimes encounter in mathematics books.

The parts of a subtraction problem were named at a time when almost all scholars wrote and conversed in Latin. We have therefore inherited Latin names for these things.

minuend (that which is to be diminished/reduced in size) - (minus)
subtrahend (that which is taken away from underneath)
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difference (the distance that the numbers are "apart")

The verb describing the action is "subtract," so an appropriate instruction would be "Subtract 13 from 45."

The preposition used to name the sign is minus (less/diminished by), and the appropriate way to use the word is to read "13 minus 45." Although usage is changing today, in the past it was very poor form (and showed a poor education) to say "minus 13 from 45!" The correct usage was always "subtract 13 from 45."

I hope the series has been helpful for you. In time, I will also discuss addition, multiplication and division in this way.

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RATIONALE FOR THIS SERIES

Some of you have expressed quite some interest in different subtraction methods/algorithms. This resulted from my posting two lengthy videos in which I explained WHY different algorithms worked.

It became apparent, however, that I needed to create a series of much shorter videos in order to DEMONSTRATE these methods (and more) without the lengthy explanations in those first two videos.