No problem, let's work through this together. We're starting with 40963 and are subtracting 9738 from it.

Step 1: We'll start by subtracting the digit 8 and the borrow 0 from 3 in column 1 and get -5.
We add -5 to 10 and get 5 as the first digit of the result.

Step 2: We'll start by subtracting the digit 3 and the borrow 1 from 6 in column 2 and get 2.
2 is the next digit of our result.

Step 3: We'll start by subtracting the digit 7 and the borrow 0 from 9 in column 3 and get 2.
2 is the next digit of our result.

Step 4: We'll start by subtracting the digit 9 and the borrow 0 from 0 in column 4 and get -9.
We add -9 to 10 and get 1 as the next digit of the result.

Step 5: We'll start by subtracting the digit 0 and the borrow 1 from 4 in column 5 and get 3.
3 is the next digit of our result.

So, 40963 - 9738 = 31225.