Question Video: Subtracting within 20 to Solve Word Problems Represented by Pictures Mathematics • Second Year of Primary School

Video Transcript

A group of fairies were flying around a flower. After four more fairies joined the group, there were 14 fairies in total.

The question tells us that there were a group of fairies to begin with. But we don’t know how many. We know that four more fairies joined the group. So we can circle the four fairies that joined the group. And after the four fairies joined, we know that there were 14 fairies in total.

To find the missing number, we can count the number of fairies there were before four more fairies joined the group, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. 10 plus four equals 14.

How many fairies were there at the start?

We counted 10. There were 10 fairies flying around a flower. Four more fairies joined the group. There were 14 fairies in total.