Math Drills

Column Subtraction Review

A-5

Column Calculation (3-Digit Numbers)

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What this worksheet covers

Grade: Grade 3 (Elementary School)
Topic: Column Subtraction

Subtraction with large numbers is built up according to how many borrows are required. For three digits and for four, no borrowing through three borrows is covered in column and horizontal form, and the work leads into Fill in the Blank and word problems on What Is Left and The Difference.

When the digit above is 0, borrowing from the neighbor stalls and forms such as 1000 - 234 bring the work to a halt. Flipping the digits to compute 7 - 3 because 7 will not come out of 3 is stubbornly persistent, and setting each digit of the answer against the digit above it exposes it on the spot.

Following on from Column Addition, the same procedure of lining digits up by place is applied here to subtraction, with practice at handling borrows. Writing digits lined up by place goes on living long after this, resurfacing as lining up decimal points once Decimals is studied.