Okay, we are tasked with adding 31 and 1989. Let's begin!

Step 1: We'll start by adding the digits 1 & 9 in column 1 and get 10.
We'll write down the last digit 0 and carry the 1 to the next column.

Step 2: We'll start by adding the digits 3 & 8 in column 2 and get 12.
We'll write down the last digit 2 and carry the 1 to the next column.

Step 3: We'll start by adding the digits 0 & 9 in column 3 and get 10.
We'll write down the last digit 0 and carry the 1 to the next column.

Step 4: We'll start by adding the digits 0 & 1 in column 4 and get 2.

So, 31 + 1989 = 2020.

