Let's try solving a real-world problem with money.
Annie is planning to buy her brother a card and a gift on his birthday. The price of the card is $2.75, and the price of the gift is $15.30. How much change will Annie get if she pays with a $20 bill?
It looks like there are two steps to solving this problem.
1️⃣ First, we need to add the prices of the birthday card and the gift.
2️⃣ Then, we subtract the total price from $20.
Let's get started.
Adding money is just the same as adding decimals.
The birthday card is $2.75, and the gift is $15.30. Let's add those prices together using column form.
The decimals should be lined up.
The total price for the two items is $18.05.
Next, we subtract the total price from $20, the value of the bill that Annie used to pay for the items.
Notice that we added zeros at the end of $20, like $20.00.
We found our answer:
Annie will get $1.95 as her change. ✅
Great work.
Do you think you can add and subtract money on your own?
Click on Start Practice to find out. It's a skill you'll use a lot in life.