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An expression involves subtracting two numbers from a given first number under what circumstance will the value of the expression be negative

1 Answer

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Say that you start from a number
x. Then, you subtract
y and
z from
x, which means that the expression is


x-y-z = x-(y+z)

If we want this expression to be negative, we have


x-(y+z)<0\iff x<y+z

So, in order for the expression to be negative, the two numbers we are subtracting, combined, must be more than the starting number.

For example, if we start from 10 and we subtract 4 and then 8, we have


10-4-8 = 10-12=-2

which is negative, because 4 and 8 combined are more than 10

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