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a - b is simply a subtraction problem, such as 7 - 4, only when you wrote the equation you didn't know what the numbers would be. But you do know they are different quantities, so you use a and b to make it clear. Then later when you know what those quantities are, you put them in.

For example, you want to buy your friend a fruit basket, but they all contain Oranges and your friend doesn't like oranges. So you buy a giant fruit basket with 42 assorted fruits and take out the 4 oranges.

Let a = 42 (all the fruits in the basket) and let b = 4 (the number of oranges).

a - b = 42 - 4 = 38.

You are giving your friend 38 pieces of fruit.

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11y ago
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8y ago

Assuming a and b are variables, this would mean a times b.

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Q: What is a-b in algebra?
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