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Grade 2 · Maths · Lessons
How much longer
📏ruler✏️pencil🖍️crayon🎀ribbon
How long is it?
The big ideaMissing the whole? Add. Missing a part? Take away.

How it works

To find how much longer one thing is than another, take the shorter from the longer.

Missing the whole? Add the parts. Missing a part? Take away.

Draw a bar for each length. The gap between the ends is how much longer.

024681012147 longerpencilcrayon
The crayon ends at 12 and the pencil at 5: the difference is a jump of 7.

Example 1: Two things on a ruler

  1. The pencil ends at 5 and the crayon ends at 12 on the same ruler.
  2. How much longer is the crayon? Take away: 12 − 5 = 7.
  3. The crayon is 7 in longer.

Example 2: Joining two pieces

  1. Sam's ribbon is 97 centimeters long. Sam cuts off 21 centimeters. How long is the ribbon now?
  2. Joining makes a whole, so add the two lengths.
  3. So the answer is 76.

Example 3: One is longer by an amount

  1. Lee's stick is 71 centimeters long. Lee's rope is 23 centimeters longer than the stick. How long is the rope?
  2. The longer one is the shorter plus the difference, so add.
  3. So the answer is 94.

Words to know

difference
How much more or less one number is than another.
length
How long something is.

Watch out

Try it

  1. A pencil is 6 in long and a crayon is 9 in long. How much longer is the crayon?
  2. A ribbon is 25 cm long. Sam ties on 10 cm more. How long is it now?
  3. A rope is 40 cm. A string is 15 cm longer than the rope. How long is the string?
  4. Do you add or take away to find how much longer?
Answers: 1. 3 in · 2. 35 cm · 3. 55 cm · 4. take away
For grown-upsMeasure two things at home and ask how much longer one is. Check with the ruler.
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