Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. The quantity from which another quantity, the subtrahend, is to be subtracted. In the equation 50 - 16 = 34, the minuend is 50.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A number or quantity from which another is to be subtracted.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. In the process of subtraction{2}, the number from which another number (the subtrahend) is to be subtracted, to find the difference.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In arithmetic, the number from which another number is to be deducted in the process of subtraction.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. the number from which the subtrahend is subtracted
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Latin minuendum, thing to be diminished, from neuter gerundive of minuere, to lessen; see mei-2 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
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The _subtrahend_ is placed _under_ the minuend to be _drawn_ from it.
Orthography As Outlined in the State Course of Study for Illinois
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It may seem a matter of trivial importance whether the pupil increases the subtrahend number or decreases the minuend number when he subtracts digits that involve taking or borrowing; and yet investigation proves that to increase the subtrahend number is by far the simpler process, and eliminates both a source of waste and a source of error, which, in the aggregate, may assume a significance to mental economy that is well worth considering.
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