Find the Missing Number in Decimal Subtraction

Begin with Subtract Decimals Mentally, then have students rewrite each column problem with zeros in the empty places. Check answers by adding the difference back to the number taken away.

Find the missing number in 24 decimal subtraction equations, like 44.3 minus what makes 37.9. If the first number is missing, add the other two numbers. If the number being subtracted is missing, subtract the answer from the first number. The directions on the page read: Write the missing number that makes each equation true. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade decimal addition & subtraction, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with subtract decimals. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Write zeros at the end of the number with fewer places so both have the same length, then subtract in a column. On Subtract Decimals of Different Lengths, 4.6 − 1.042 becomes 4.600 − 1.042 = 3.558.

Give the whole number a decimal point and zeros, then regroup across the zeros. On Subtract Decimals From Whole Numbers, 18 − 0.1 becomes 18.0 − 0.1 = 17.9.

If the first number is missing, add the other two numbers. If the number being subtracted is missing, subtract the answer from the first number. On Find the Missing Number in Decimal Subtraction, 44.3 minus a number equals 37.9, so the missing number is 6.4.