Subtracting Decimals to Solve a Problem

Question

The price tag shows the regular price and the sale price of a pair of running shoes. How much money will you save if you pay the sale price?
SALE
$12799
$68.25
Since we're talking about the difference between the two prices, this must be a
problem.
127.99
-68.25
We will save $59.74 if we buy the shoes on
Estimate to check the answer: 128 - 68 =
_, which is very close to $59.74.

Answer 1

To find out how much money you will save by buying the running shoes at the sale price, you need to subtract the sale price from the regular price:

Regular Price: $127.99
Sale Price: $68.25

Now, let's perform the subtraction:

  127.99
-  68.25
__________

Start from the rightmost column:

1. In the hundredths place: 9 - 5 = 4
2. In the tenths place: 9 - 2 = 7
3. In the units place (whole number part): 7 - 8 (you can't subtract, so you borrow from the 2, making it 1 and adding 10 to the 7): Now it's 17 - 8 = 9
4. In the tens place: 1 - 6 (again you need to borrow from the 1, but since it's 0 now, we'll borrow from the 1 at the beginning making it 0 then adding 10 to the 1): Now it's 11 - 6 = 5

So, putting it all together:

  127.99
-  68.25
__________
  59.74

You will save $59.74 if you buy the shoes at the sale price.

Now, let's check your estimation:

Estimating: Regular Price: $128.00 (rounded from $127.99)
Sale Price: $68.00 (rounded from $68.25)

Now subtract:

128 - 68 = 60

This estimation of $60 is very close to the actual savings of $59.74, confirming that our calculation is correct.

So, you will save $59.74 by buying the shoes at the sale price.