Writing Expressions Involving Subtraction
The phrase “4 subtracted from some number” could be written as the expression x – 4, where the variable x represents the unknown number. Notice that the words “subtracted from” indicate that the operation between the number and 4 is to be subtraction.
Some other words and phrases that indicate subtraction are “less that,” “minus,” and “decreased by”. One other word that indicates subtraction is difference. The difference between two terms is the result of subtracting them.
In a subtraction expression, the order of the terms is very important. You have to know which term is being subtracted and which is being subtracted from. To help interpret the phrase “6 less than a number,” replace “a number” with 10. What is 6 less than 10? The answer is 4, which is 10 – 6, not 6 – 10. The phrase translates to the expression x – 6, not 6 – x.