People

1
Peoples Ages
I am learning to apply mental subtraction methods
to an application.
Working it out in your head.
To solve a problem
2
A grave stone reads Born 7/6/1896 Died
8/10/1964. How old was this person when they
died?
Step 1 Lets use a number line to answer this
question.
Step 2 A jump to the nearest hundred will make
this question easier to answer.
Step 3 Then jump up to 1964.
Step 4 Add the two amounts together.
4 64 68
Step 5 This is only the correct answer if he had
his birthday in the year he died.
You can see he had his birthday in the year he
died so our answer (68) is correct.
Had birthday here
Died in this month.
64
4
1964
1900
1896
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Sep Oct Now Dec
3
A grave stone reads Born 6/5/1798 Died
4/2/1842. How old was this person when they died?
Step 1 Lets use Equal Additions to answer
this question.
1842 1798
Step 2 Move 1798 up to the nearest hundred.
Step 3 We made one side bigger by two so we must
do the same to the other side.
2
2
Step 4 Solve this equation.
44
1800
1844
.. .
Step 5 This is only the correct answer if he had
his birthday in the year he died.
Had birthday here
Died in this month.
You can see he died before his birthday. This
means we must subtract 1 from the age we
calculated earlier 44 1 43
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Sep Oct Now Dec
4
Now try these questions on your own. Remember
to check whether the person has had their
birthday in the year they died. If they havent
you will need to subtract one.

1. 2/5/1949 3/7/2008
2. 3/8/1688 4/9/1740
3. 8/11/1979 - 4/3/2008
4. 6/6/1889 3/5/1935
5. 4/8/1845 3/9/1912

59
Click again when you have completed each question
and the answer will be displayed.
52
28
45
67
Need some more practise? Try Pg53 of Teacher
Tools Addition and Subtraction Book Numeracy
resources