Question Video: Subtracting Multidigit Decimals | Nagwa Question Video: Subtracting Multidigit Decimals | Nagwa

Question Video: Subtracting Multidigit Decimals Mathematics

Solve the following: 648.3628 − 434.27.

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Video Transcript

Solve the following: 648.3628 minus 434.27.

So what we can see in this question is that we’ve got two numbers: one with four decimal places, the other with two. And that’s the values after the decimal point. The calculation is set up nicely in a column subtraction way with our decimal points aligned, which is very, very important with this kind of question. Okay, but can we do anything else to make it a bit easier for ourselves? So what we can do sometimes to avoid any mistakes that might be made through errors in our method is add zeros in any place values that are blank. So here we’ve got a zero in the thousandths and ten thousandths for the bottom number.

And now what we do is carry out subtraction as we would carry out any column subtraction, starting with the right-hand side. So we’ve got eight minus zero, which is eight, then two minus zero, which is two. Then, we move over to six minus seven, being careful not to get stuck in the common mistake here, which would be to do seven minus six, which gives us one. We have to do six minus seven, which we can’t do. So we’re gonna borrow from the place value to the left. So now, what we’ve done is borrowed one to the tenths. So we’ve got two tenths now.

And now what we’ve got in the hundredths is sixteen hundredths instead of six. So we’ve got 16 minus seven, which is nine. Then, we’ve got two minus two, which is zero. And then, we put the decimal point in exactly the same place that’s aligned. Then, we’ve got eight minus four, which is four; four minus three, which is one; and then finally six minus four. So therefore, we can say that 648.3628 minus 434.27 is 214.0928.

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