Arithmetic is one of the branches of Mathematics that deals with studying numbers and the basic operations applied to them. Although the subject of Mathematics involves various operations like square roots, logarithmic functions, exponential functions, and so on, the operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are referred to as basic elementary arithmetic operations. We are using arithmetic operations in our day to day life activities, such as calculating budgets, distributing something equally to the set of people, and so on.
Arithmetic operations are not only applied to real numbers, and they can be used in a variety of concepts such as dividing polynomials, logarithmic functions, trigonometric functions, etc. Hence, the four basic arithmetic operations are considered the fundamentals of Mathematics. In this article, we will learn the four basic arithmetic operations in detail with examples.
Addition
The addition is one of the basic arithmetic operations that involves adding two or more numbers together. The addition operation is represented by the symbol “+”. The result of the addition operation is termed as a sum. While performing the addition process, the order of numbers does not matter. Hence, we can say that the addition operation is commutative. The addition operation is represented by:
Addend + Addend = Sum.
For example:
5 + 10 = 15
Here, 5 and 10 are called addends.
“+” is called addition operator/plus
15 is called a sum.
Subtraction
Subtraction is an arithmetic operation, which computes the difference between two numbers. The subtraction operation is considered to be the inverse of the addition operation. The symbol used to represent the subtraction is “-“. The standard form to represent the subtraction operation is:
Minuend – Subtrahend = Difference
(i.e) 6 – 4 = 2
Here,
6 = Minuend
“-” = subtraction operator/ minus
4 = subtrahend
2 = Difference.
While subtracting two numbers, it has two following different cases. They are:
Case 1: If Minuend > Subtrahend, the difference is positive.
Example: 10 – 5 = 5.
Case 2: If Minuend < Subtrahend, the difference is negative.
Example: 4 – 10 = -6.
Multiplication
Multiplication is known as the repeated addition process. The symbol “×” denotes multiplication operations. The other signs, such as *dot (.), represents multiplication operation.
The parts of multiplication operation include multiplicand, multiplier, product and an operator. The multiplication of multiplicand and multiplier results in the product.
The standard form to represent the multiplication process is:
Multiplicand × Multiplier = Product
For instance: 5 × 10 = 50
Where,
5 = Multiplicand
10 = Multiplier
“×” = Multiplication operator
50 = Product
Division
The division is the inverse of the multiplication operation. The symbols used to represent the division operation are “÷ or /”. The division operations generally represent the breaking of large numbers into smaller ones. In the division process, it computes the quotient of two numbers. If a dividend is divided by the divisor, it will result in a quotient, and the leftover number is called a remainder.
The standard form to represent the division operation is given below:
Dividend ÷ Divisor = Quotient + Remainder.
For example,
10 ÷ 5 = 2
Here, 10 and 5 are dividend and divisor, respectively
“2” is called quotient, which results from the division process, and the remainder obtained here is 0.
Note: The quotient value will be greater than 1, if dividend > divisor.
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