Question

Hamid subtracted 5.5 from 23.75 and recorded the answer as 23.20. Is his answer correct?

If Hamid's answer is incorrect, what mistake did he make?
a) He subtracted incorrectly.
b) He rounded the answer incorrectly.
c) He added instead of subtracting.
d) There is no mistake; the answer is correct.

Answer 1

Hamid subtracted 5.5 from 23.75 incorrectly. The correct subtraction result is 18.25, not 23.20, which indicates option (a) He subtracted incorrectly is the right answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

Hamid's answer is incorrect. The mistake he made is that he subtracted incorrectly. When subtracting 5.5 from 23.75, you should perform the operation carefully to ensure each digit is correctly subtracted, particularly when working across the decimal point. The correct answer for 23.75 - 5.5 can be calculated as follows:

1. Subtract the tenths place: 7 tenths minus 5 tenths equals 2 tenths.
2. Subtract the unit place: 3 minus 0 equals 3.
3. Since there is no value to subtract from the hundredths place, it remains 5 hundredths.

The correct answer is 18.25, not 23.20. Therefore, the correct option is (a) He subtracted incorrectly.