Take From Stories: Some Things Leave and the Rest Is the Mystery

This idea walks around your house all day. Take from stories run the day. Gas leaves the tank. Bread leaves the loaf. Every time something is used up, someone is quietly subtracting. This is worth learning because choosing the wrong operation is the most common mistake in story problems.

Watch for it today, and when you spot it, tell someone what you noticed and how you knew. This is a good thing for a young mathematician to know. In a take from story, you start with a whole group, part of it leaves, and you want what is left.

Nine apples sat in a bowl. Three were eaten. How many remain? Nine take away three equals six. Listen for leaving words: ate, gave, sold, broke, flew away, lost. When you hear one, picture the objects walking out the door, then count who stayed behind. Watch out for this trap.

Some take from stories give you what left and what stayed, and ask for the starting amount instead. Then you must add, not subtract. Read all the way to the question before you decide anything, because the question is what tells you your job. Do it carefully rather than quickly, and thank God for a mind that can learn.