Britannica AI Icon

Quick Summary

Subtraction is a fundamental arithmetic operation where one number, the subtrahend, is taken away from another number, the minuend. The result of this operation is called the difference. The symbol used to denote subtraction is a hyphen or minus sign (–). For example, if you subtract 10 from 23, the result is 13. Subtraction is the inverse of addition, meaning that if you add the subtrahend back to the difference, you will get the original minuend. Another related concept is the additive inverse, which is a number that, when added to a given number, results in zero.1234

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.