Grade 7 Subtracting Rational Numbers
Subtracting rational numbers in grade 7, where subtracting is adding the opposite. Integers, decimals and mixed numbers across twenty problems.
Download
Three different problem sets — same skill, same layout, fresh numbers.
Preview — Set A
Subtract. Remember that subtracting is adding the opposite. Write each answer in simplest form.
- 1.8 - 6 =
- 2.5.5 - 0.8 =
- 3.-2 1/2 - 2 1/2 =
- 4.-8 - (-15) =
- 5.8.9 - (-6.9) =
- 6.-2 3/4 - 2 2/5 =
- 7.-14 - 10 =
- 8.-3.2 - 3.2 =
- 9.1 1/3 - (-1 1/2) =
- 10.-5.1 - 8.3 =
- 11.-2/3 - 3/4 =
- 12.2 - (-13) =
- 13.8.3 - 0.4 =
- 14.-3/4 - (-3/5) =
- 15.17 - 20 =
- 16.6.6 - 5.1 =
- 17.2 3/5 - 2 1/6 =
- 18.7 - 6 =
- 19.-2.3 - 0.9 =
- 20.-4/5 - (-2 1/3) =
What this worksheet covers
There are twenty integers problems here — one page to work, one page of answers to check against — and Sets B and C repeat the layout with different numbers. What makes this set particular: fourteen of the twenty problems involve a negative quantity and one of the three column problems need regrouping and the rest do not, so the two cases are mixed rather than blocked. Problems 7 and 14, for instance, are "-14 - 10" and "-3/4 - (-3/5)". Common Core 7.NS.1 is the slot this page fills.
Skills practised
Grade 7 integers means adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing integers, and order of operations with signed numbers. Specifically, the problems practise grade 7 Subtracting Rational Numbers. Working the page asks a student to carry or borrow across place-value columns without losing a digit, work in fractional units and give the answer in lowest terms, and keep the decimal points aligned.
About the mixed review format
Mixed review changes the problem shape as the page goes on, so the 20 problems here cover more than one shape rather than one procedure repeated; problem 7, "-14 - 10" sits next to problems of a different kind. Mixing the four operations on signed numbers forces the student to pick the right sign rule for each problem.
Set A, Set B and Set C
Set A is the sheet as it was first published on MathSheetLab, and Sets B and C were derived from it problem by problem: each number became a slot redrawn with the same shape, and every answer was recomputed exactly. Where Set A's problem 11 is "-2/3 - 3/4", Set B's is "-2/3 - 1/4".
How to use this worksheet
Work it without a calculator. Every one of the twenty integers problems is designed to be done by hand, and reaching for a calculator at grade 7 skips exactly the reasoning being built. Print Set B of this integers mixed review before writing on Set A; the same skill worked twice a week apart tells you far more than once.
One mistake to watch for
Absolute value is treated as "make it negative" or ignored. Problem 14 on this grade 7 mixed review page, "-3/4 - (-3/5)", is where to look for it.
The bars are being read as parentheses.
Define absolute value as distance from zero and have the student mark that distance on a number line.
Other grade 7 integers formats
The same skill in the other formats available at this grade.
- Drill — Grade 7 Adding Rational Numbers, 20 problems
- Timed Drill — Grade 7 Integers Timed Drill, 60 problems
- Missing Number — Grade 7 Integers Missing Number, 24 problems
- Word Problems — 7.NS.3 — Rational Numbers in the Real World, 22 problems
A step either side
The same format one grade down and one grade up — the easier sheet is often the faster fix when this one is not landing.
- Grade 6 Integers Mixed Review — grade 6, 30 problems
- Grade 8 Repeating Decimals as Fractions — grade 8, 16 problems
Mixed Review sheets in other grade 7 topics
No paywall and no account — download any set of this grade 7 integers mixed review, and the answers for all twenty problems are in the matching key.