The Vocabulary of Subtraction

Near the beginning of this month, there was a blog entry (“Vocabulary of Addition”) in which I defined the math terms for an equation using the operation of addition. Today, I will show you the English math words associated with the fundamental skill of subtraction and its associated numerical expressions {language model}.

A minuend is the number from which another is to be subtracted.

The minus sign is the symbol that represents the operation of subtraction in this equation.

The subtrahend is the number to be subtracted from the minuend.

The difference is the result of subtracting the subtrahend from the minuend.

As you can see, the terms associated with subtraction are a little more obscure and less commonly used in math conversations than the ones for addition. These terms emphasize the fact that the order of terms in subtracting two numbers does matter.  We need to recognize this difference when we use language to describe mathematics.

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Parts of a Circle

A circle is a  two-dimensional geometric object whose points are all the same distance from the center. The circle has  four basic components.  We will begin by identifying the components of a circle visually and verbally.  The words are labels used to name the components depicted in red and are used to translate the geometric illustrations into verbal descriptions.  Different words would be used if your native language is not English.Mathematical equations express relationships.  There are mathematical equations that define the relationships between these components of a circle in various ways.  These equations are used to find the lengths of the circumference, radius, and diameter of a circle as well as its area.   We’ll look into these relationships beginning in the next blog.

Do you know of any other math terms that describe some part of a circle?