Hello Deanna,

In Subtraction the answer can be called both. It depends on the question.

For instance, if I have four fish and two fish swim away I have only two fish that remain.

The abacus shows this well if you put on four beads and take two beads away how many beads remain. This is the remainder.

Now , if you have a group of four fish and a group of two fish what is the difference of the groups of fish? The difference is two fish because the four fish had two more fish than the group that had two fish.

The abacus beads show this well too. Put on the first row four beads, then on the second row put on the two beads. The difference in the beads when compared to each others is two beads; either the four has two more or the two has two less, but either way they are different by two beads.

So the answers of subtraction can be called both depending more on how they are used. When it is called a remainder it is usually done in the remaining way because that is how the child is using it on the abacus.

You will find that we teach both of the names for the subtraction.

Please email me if you have more questions,

Thank you for giving your child a RightStart in Math,

Carissa
RightStart™ Mathematics by Activities for Learning, Inc.

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