Video Transcript
Use the symbol for is less than, is greater than, or is equal to to fill in the gap. 427 subtract 153 what 147.
This problem is asking us to compare two values. On the left, we have a subtraction, 427 subtract 153. And then on the right, we have a three-digit number, 147. And we need to decide whether the value of 427 take away 153 is less than 147, is greater than 147, or is equal to 147. And the only way we can find out which symbol to use is to actually calculate what 427 subtract 153 is.
And to do this, we can use column subtraction. So, we’ll begin by writing both three-digit numbers and setting them out so that the digits are vertically in columns of the same value. We have our ones digits, tens digits, and hundreds digits. First, let’s subtract the ones. Seven ones take away three ones leaves us with four ones.
Now, we can’t subtract five tens from two tens. But we do have enough tens in our number to be able to subtract five tens because we can see, next to the two tens, we’ve got four hundreds. So, we’re going to need to exchange to help us find the answer. We’ll take one of our hundreds, so we now have three hundreds instead of four. We’re going to exchange it for 10 tens. We now have 12 tens. And we need to take away five tens. This leaves us with seven tens.
Finally, let’s subtract our hundreds digits. 300 take away 100 leaves us with two hundreds. The value of 427 subtract 153 is 274. Now, we can compare this answer with our three-digit number on the right-hand side. 274 has two hundreds in it, but 147 only has one hundred in it. So, we can see straightaway that 274 is greater than 147. And so, we can say, 427 subtract 153 is greater than 147. The symbol that we need to use to fill in the gap is the one that represents is greater than.