Let's solve 654 minus 287. Subtraction means taking away or finding the difference between two numbers. To understand this better, let's look at a simple example: 8 minus 3 equals 5. We start with 8 dots, cross out 3 of them, and 5 dots remain. Now we're ready to tackle our bigger problem using the same principle.
Now let's set up our subtraction problem properly. We arrange 654 and 287 vertically in standard subtraction format. Notice how each column represents a different place value: hundreds, tens, and ones. The 6 and 2 are in the hundreds place, shown in blue. The 5 and 8 are in the tens place, shown in green. The 4 and 7 are in the ones place, shown in red. This proper alignment is crucial for accurate subtraction because we can only subtract digits in the same place value.
Now let's focus on the ones column where we need to subtract 7 from 4. But we have a problem - we cannot subtract 7 from 4 because 7 is larger than 4. This is where we use borrowing. We borrow 1 ten from the tens place. Since 1 ten equals 10 ones, we add these 10 ones to our original 4 ones, giving us 14 ones. Now we can subtract: 14 minus 7 equals 7. Notice that after borrowing, our tens place changes from 5 to 4.
Now let's move to the tens column. After lending 1 ten to the ones place, we have 4 tens remaining. We need to subtract 8 tens, but 4 minus 8 is impossible with positive numbers. So we need to borrow again! This time we borrow 1 hundred from the hundreds place. Since 1 hundred equals 10 tens, we add these 10 tens to our 4 tens, giving us 14 tens. Now we can calculate: 14 minus 8 equals 6. Notice our hundreds place changes from 6 to 5 after this borrowing.
Now for the final step: the hundreds column. After lending 1 hundred to the tens place, we have 5 hundreds remaining. We need to subtract 2 hundreds. This is straightforward: 5 minus 2 equals 3. Now we can combine all our results: 3 in the hundreds place, 6 in the tens place, and 7 in the ones place, giving us our final answer of 367. Let's verify this is correct by adding: 367 plus 287 equals 654, which matches our original number. Our subtraction is correct!