Money Math | Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide
Calculator Use
Do math with this money calculator to add, subtract, multiply and divide dollars and cents.
The calculator can add and subtract amounts of money as if you were combining monetary amounts, or deducting one amount from another.
You can also multiply an amount of money by a number, as if you needed to buy multiple of the same item and you wanted to know the combined total.
For division, the calculator has two functions. You can divide an amount of money by a number, as in distributing money to multiple recipients. And you can divide an amount of money by another amount, as in calculating how many of a priced item you can purchase given a starting amount of cash.
How to Do Math with Money
We show examples of math problems with money below. You can learn how to do math with money by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing amounts with dollars and cents.
How to Add Money
Use long addition to add amounts of money in dollars and cents. This is like any addition problem where there are numbers with 2 decimal places.
Say you had multiple checks to deposit and you wanted to know the total increase in your bank account after depositing the checks. You can use long addition to add up the total money value of the checks.
- Write the amounts of money in a stacked list with the decimal places all lined up
- If any of the amounts do not include cents be sure to tack on a decimal and two zeroes to the end of the number. For example $84 becomes 84.00.
- Proceed from right to left adding all numbers in each column, carrying digits as you would in long addition.
Adding Money Math Problem
You are depositing 3 checks to your bank account. The check amounts are $45.70, $191, and $20.65.
First, make a stacked list of the check amounts in dollars and cents with the decimal points lined up.
Complete the long addition, carrying digits to the next column to the left.
Your bank account will increase by $257.35 after you deposit your three checks.
Related calculator: Long Addition Calculator
How to Subtract Money
Use regular subtraction to subtract amounts of money in dollars and cents. This is like any subtraction problem on numbers with 2 decimal places.
Say you and a friend owe each other money. It doesn't make sense to pay each other the full amounts when you can do math and deduct what you owe your friend from what she owes you. You can use long subtraction to solve this problem.
- Write the larger amount of money on one line and the smaller amount on the line below. Make sure the decimal places are lined up.
- If any of the amounts do not include cents be sure to tack on a decimal and two zeroes to the end of the number. For example $84 becomes 84.00.
- Proceed from right to left subtracting all numbers in each column. Remember to borrow from the column to the left if at any point the top number is smaller than the bottom number.
Subtracting Money Math Problem
You bought your friend a concert ticket for $141.75, and she bought dinner before the concert - your share being $35.50.
First, make a stacked list of the amounts in dollars and cents with the decimal points lined up.
Complete the long subtraction, borrowing from the column to the left when necessary.
Your friend owes you $106.25 for the ticket after you subtract the money you owed her for dinner.
Related calculator: Long Subtraction Calculator
How to Multiply with Money
Use long multiplication to multiply an amount of money in dollars and cents by a multiplying factor.
Say you're curious to know how much money your video streaming subscriptions cost over the course of a year. You need to multiply your total monthly fees by the number of months in a year to see how much money you're spending on streaming subscriptions per year.
- Write the monthly total on one line and the multiplying factor on the line below.
- Proceed from right to left with long multiplication. Remember to carry digits to the left and add them to the product in that step of multiplication.
Multiplying Money Math Problem
You spend a total of $52.60 per month on video streaming subscriptions. Multiply that amount by 12 to see how much you spend on streaming per year.
Complete the multiplication, carrying to the next column to the left when necessary. Remember to re-insert the decimal in the cents position after you finish multiplying.
You pay a total of $631.20 per year for video streaming subscriptions.
Related calculator: Long Multiplication Calculator
How to Divide Money
There are two ways to use math to divide money. You can divide by a number, as if you had an amount of money and wanted to divide it between a set number of people. You can also divide money by another amount of money. In this case you have an amount that you want to divide by a specific amount to share with the resulting number of people.
Divide Money by a Number
- Use long division to divide dollars and cents by a number
- Write the amount of money inside the long division bracket
- Write the nubmer you're dividing by on the outside of the bracket
- Proceed with long division until you have dollars and cents, or dollars and cents with a remainder
Dividing Money by a Number Math Problem
You paid for a 3-person Uber ride that cost $34.80. Your 2 friends each want to pay you for their share of the Uber ride. You need to divide $34.80 by 3 total people to find out how much the Uber ride would cost each person.
Complete the long division. Remember to re-insert the decimal in the cents position in the answer after you finish dividing. If you have a remainder that means there is some amount of change that will not be evenly divisible among all 3 friends.
When you divide the amount of money between 3 people you see that each of your friends owes you $11.60 for the Uber ride.
Related calculator: Long Division Calculator with Decimals
Divide Money by an Amount of Money
- Use long division to divide dollars and cents by another amount of dollars and cents
- Write the amount of money you're dividing inside the long division bracket
- Write the amount of money you're dividing by on the outside of the bracket
- Proceed with long division until you have dollars and cents, or dollars and cents with a remainder
Dividing Money by an Amount of Money Math Problem
You've been saving money to buy stock in your favorite tech company. You have saved $560 and the stock costs $9.20 per share. You want to know how many shares of stock you can buy so you'll divide $560.00 by $9.20.
The amount of money you're dividing by has a decimal, so you have to move it 2 places to the right. This means you also have to move the decimal in your money amount 2 places to the right. So your long division problem becomes this:
Complete the long division. Once you have a whole number result you can stop dividing because you can't buy a decimal (partial) amount of a share. Your remainder means you'll have money left over after buying all the shares you can with $560.00.
When you divide your savings of $560.00 by a share price of $9.20 you see that you can buy 60 shares of stock in your favorite tech company. You'll have $8 left after you buy 60 shares of stock.
Related calculator: Long Division Calculator with Decimals