What Does Difference in Math Mean?

In this lesson, you’ll learn what the meaning of difference is when used in math situations and take a look at several examples. There will be a quiz at the end to help you test your understanding.
What’s the Difference?
Circle Square
Looking at these two shapes, we notice a few differences, and they are likely obvious. One is an oval, and the other is a rectangle. One is bigger than the other. Finally, one is green and the other is red. When it comes to looking at visual objects, such as shapes, many times differences are easy to see. But, when it comes to math and numbers, the word difference takes on a bit of a different meaning, and may not be so obvious at first glance.

Difference in Math
So what does the word ‘difference’ mean in math? Difference is the result of subtracting one number from another. Whereas we often talk about difference in how things look, feel, or even taste, in math it shows how much two numbers differ from each other in quantity.

So, difference is what is left of one number when subtracted from another. In a subtraction equation, there are three parts:

The minuend (the number being subtracted from)
The subtrahend (the number being subtracted)
The difference (the result of subtracting the subtrahend from the minuend)
If this was written in the form of a subtraction equation it would look like this:

Minuend – Subtrahend = Difference
Now, if the words were replaced with numbers, it would look like this:

9 – 5 = 4

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