Which mathematical sense of offset matches 'offset' as a subtraction operation?

• A. To balance or counteract something
• B. To compensate
• C. To subtract
• D. To align

Answer: (C)

Offset in math is about moving a number by a fixed amount. When you offset a value downward, you’re essentially subtracting that amount from the original number. So the operation that directly matches this idea is subtraction. The other phrases describe broader ideas like balancing, compensating, or aligning, which aren’t the specific arithmetic action of taking away a quantity. For example, offsetting by a certain amount often means you subtract that amount to get a new value, such as reducing 10 by 3 to get 7.