Subtraction Question Generator

Builds a sheet of subtraction questions at the size of number you ask for, and says whether each one needs a ten exchanged from the next column. Each question and its answer are computed directly, not guessed or approximated, so you can trust the number that gets revealed.

How many questions

Between 1 and 30. Ten fills a page.

Level

Seed (optional)

A word reproduces the same sheet, so a whole class can be given the identical set.

Gentle and standard never cross zero. Stretch allows answers below zero.

Paper size

Print size

Margin

Millimetres of blank edge, 5 to 40.

Turn the paper sideways

Room to answer in

How to print this, or save it as a PDF

There is no PDF to download, and there does not need to be. Open the print command in your browser and choose “Save as PDF” as the destination. The page addresses and dates a browser normally prints across the top and bottom are already kept off.
Set the scale to 100%, not “fit to page”. This sheet is already the exact size of the paper you chose, so anything that resizes it makes every measurement on it wrong.
Leave the paper size in the dialog set to the same one you chose here.

Your questions will appear here.

What this generator does

The setting that matters here is the level, because it decides whether answers can go below zero. Subtraction that crosses zero is a separate skill from subtraction that never does, and meeting the two mixed together before a class is ready causes more confusion than anything else in early arithmetic. Gentle and standard never cross; stretch does.

How to use this tool

Choose how many questions you want and how large the numbers should be.
Press make questions, and work through the sheet.
Show the answers to mark it, or show the working to teach the exchange.
Enter a seed word if a whole class should get the identical sheet.

Understanding the controls

How many questions: One to thirty. A short daily burst does more for fluency here than a long weekly sheet.
Level: Gentle uses two-digit numbers and standard three-digit, both always giving a positive answer. Stretch uses four-digit numbers and allows the answer to fall below zero.
Seed: Typing the same word anywhere rebuilds the identical sheet, so a class can be given matching questions with nothing shared but the word.
Show the answers / show the working: The working names whether a ten has to be exchanged from the next column, which is the step that decides how hard the question is.

Common use cases

A subtraction sheet that stays below zero or does not, on purpose
Quick maths warm-ups
Self-testing before a maths quiz
Introducing negative answers only once the positive case is secure

How this generator works

Two numbers are drawn in the level's range. Below stretch the larger is placed first, which is a constraint on the draw rather than a filter applied afterwards, so no question is thrown away. Each answer is then read back out of the rendered text and the number taken away is added to it; that must return the starting number exactly, or the question is flagged.

Randomness and fairness

Which numbers appear is random; whether the answer can be negative is not, and follows entirely from the level. The share of questions needing an exchange is left to the draw rather than balanced. Seeded sheets are built for reproducibility, not cryptographic strength, and are not secure; unseeded ones use the browser's secure generator.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Limitations and good to know

A set is drawn at one level throughout, so it does not build up across the page. Where a sheet needs to get harder as it goes, the maths workbook generator ramps the difficulty across a whole book.
The mix of exchanging and non-exchanging questions is left to chance rather than balanced.
Negative answers appear only at stretch level, and there is no way to ask for them at a smaller size of number.
Seeding trades unpredictability for repeatability: the same word always gives the same subtractions, so a seeded sheet is deterministic, not cryptographically random.

Privacy and your data

Everything is worked out inside your browser. The seed, the level and the questions themselves are never transmitted, never stored and never leave the device.