Subtraction Word Problems

When working on a word problem, there are several words that can cue you in on the fact that you will be subtracting. Some of these words and phrases include: difference, less than, decreased by, and fewer. For example, if the question says, “Six less than a number is 8. What is the number?” you would need to figure out what number minus 6 equals 8. An easy way to solve this is to simply add 8 + 6 to get the answer 14.