Did you know you can perform a subtraction function without counting backwards from the higher number to the lower number, thereby “removing” one amount from another? Simply add one unit to the lower number, while keeping track of how many ones you have added, over and over again, until you reach the terminal higher number, then add together the total number of minimal unit steps you had to use in order to compensate between the two.
This method can be done purely mathematically, and therefore can be non-functional at times. That’s because the units in question are rarely static physical quantities, and either decay/decrete, acay/accrete, or change in some other fashion, before you are able to finish your calculation. However, it is sometimes more accurate than trying to take out the smaller number from the larger number, since the computation requires less time to perform over a certain period of time because lower numbers (along with certain classes and ranges of significant values) are more plentifully stored than higher numbers and don’t have to be generated and stored in novel situations, like higher numbers do.
Perhaps some systems of currency and trade would be made far more efficient if denominations came only in powers and multiples of 10 on the notes, coins, and other means of trade, for this very reason.
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