Tall statues

In your book, Maths Mela (Chapter 5, Far and Near), there is a picture of some of the world's tallest statues. Here are five of them with their heights: the Statue of Unity in India, 182 m; the Spring Temple Buddha in China, 128 m; Guanyin of Nanshan in China, 108 m; the Statue of Liberty in the USA, 93 m; and Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, 38 m. Of these, the Statue of Unity is the tallest.

How much taller is the Statue of Unity than the Statue of Liberty? We subtract: 182 m − 93 m. In the ones, 2 − 3 needs regrouping: 12 − 3 = 9. In the tens, 7 − 9 needs regrouping too: 17 − 9 = 8. So the Statue of Unity is 89 m taller. Check: 93 + 89 = 182.

The largest difference among these five is between the tallest and the shortest: 182 m − 38 m = 144 m. The Spring Temple Buddha is 128 m − 108 m = 20 m taller than Guanyin of Nanshan.

We can also double a height. Double the Statue of Liberty: 93 m + 93 m = 186 m. That is 4 m more than the Statue of Unity, so the Statue of Unity is a little less than twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty.