By how much should 74.3 be decreased to get 26.87?

Answer

To solve the problem of how much 74.3 should be decreased to get 26.87, we can follow these steps:

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understand the Problem**: We need to find out how much to decrease 74.3 to arrive at 26.87. This can be expressed mathematically as:
\[ 74.3 - x = 26.87 \]
where \( x \) is the amount we need to decrease.

2. **Rearranging the Equation**: To find \( x \), we can rearrange the equation:
\[ x = 74.3 - 26.87 \]

3. **Performing the Subtraction**: Now we will subtract 26.87 from 74.3. To do this, we can align the numbers by their decimal points:
\[ \begin{array}{r} 74.30 \\ -26.87 \\ \hline \end{array} \]

4. **Subtracting the Numbers**:
- Start from the rightmost digit (hundredths place):
- \( 0 - 7 \): We can't subtract 7 from 0, so we borrow 1 from the 3 (making it 2), and the 0 becomes 10. Now, \( 10 - 7 = 3 \).
- Move to the tenths place:
- \( 2 - 8 \): Again, we can't subtract 8 from 2, so we borrow 1 from the 4 (making it 3), and the 2 becomes 12. Now, \( 12 - 8 = 4 \).
- Move to the units place:
- \( 3 - 6 \): We can't subtract 6 from 3, so we borrow 1 from the 7 (making it 6), and the 3 becomes 13. Now, \( 13 - 6 = 7 \).
- Finally, subtract the leftmost digit:
- \( 6 - 2 = 4 \).

5. **Final Calculation**: After performing all the subtractions, we get:
\[ 74.30 - 26.87 = 47.43 \]

6. **Conclusion**: Therefore, the amount by which 74.3 should be decreased to get 26.87 is:
\[ x = 47.43 \]

### Final Answer:
74.3 should be decreased by **47.43** to get 26.87.