Comparison Word Problems up to 20: What is the Smaller Amount?
š Time for a shrinking puzzle! If you know how big the giant is, and you know the difference, can you find out how tiny the small thing is?
Concept
In these comparison stories, you have to work backward to find the SMALLEST number! šÆ **The "Find the Tiny" Strategy:** **Story:** "A giant stepped exactly 18 times to cross a bridge. A goblin took 6 FEWER steps than the giant. How many steps did the goblin take?" * **Large Amount:** The giant took 18 steps. * **The Difference:** The goblin took 6 fewer steps. * **Small Amount:** ??? **Equation:** Since we want to find the tiny amount the goblin took, we need to SUBTRACT the difference from the giant's amount! * 18 (giant's steps) - 6 (the difference) = 12. * **Answer:** The goblin took 12 steps! When you want to find the smaller amount, you **SUBTRACT** (-).
Try it
Find the tiny amount! **Instructions:** Read the story and subtract to find the smaller amount. **Problem 1:** A tall building is 20 stories high. A short building is 8 stories **shorter**. How many stories high is the short building? * Large amount: 20 * Difference: 8 * Equation: 20 - 8 = ___ * Answer: ___ stories. **Problem 2:** Sarah has 15 toy dinosaurs. Her little sister has 4 **fewer** dinosaurs. How many dinosaurs does her sister have? * Equation: 15 - ___ = ___ * Answer: ___ dinosaurs. **Problem 3:** A cheetah ran for 17 seconds. A turtle ran for 10 **fewer** seconds than the cheetah. How many seconds did the turtle run? * Answer: The turtle ran for ___ seconds.