The counting up method for giving change

Subtracting ₹137 from ₹500 in your head is slow. Shopkeepers don't do it. They count up from the price to the note, in easy jumps, and hand you each jump as they go.

How it works

1. Jump to the next ten. From ₹137, add ₹3 to get to ₹140.
2. Jump to the next hundred. From ₹140, add ₹60 to get to ₹200.
3. Jump to the note. From ₹200, add ₹300 to get to ₹500.
4. Add up the jumps. ₹3 + ₹60 + ₹300 = ₹363.

Each jump is a small, round number, so there is nothing to carry or borrow. Better still, each jump is already a handful of notes: ₹3 is ₹2₹1, ₹60 is ₹50₹10, ₹300 is ₹200₹100.

Worked examples

Why it's faster

Subtraction needs you to hold borrowed digits in your head. Counting up only ever adds, and every step lands on a round number you can check. It's also how change is counted out loud at a counter ("137… 140, 200, 500"), so the customer can follow along.

Practise it

Chhutta's practice mode gives you random customers with real Indian prices. Try to work out the change before you look at the "change due" line, then build it from the drawer.

Questions

What is the counting up method for change?

Start at the price and add small round jumps until you reach the amount paid: to the next ten, the next hundred, then the note. The jumps add up to the change.

Is counting up the same as subtraction?

It gives the same answer, but it only uses addition, which most people find easier to do in their head.

Open today's Chhutta shop10 customers, real rupee notes, one score: your time. Free, no sign-up.

More Chhutta guides

• How to play ChhuttaGive exact change, fast, with real rupee notes.
• Fewest notes and coinsThe biggest-first rule and a change table.
• Money game for kidsRupee activities for Class 1 to 5, with answers.