Question

Jaime was working on his math homework with his friend Kent. Jaime looked at the following problem.

-9.5 - (-8) -6.5
He tells Kent that he can solve this using addition. What does Kent mean by this? Explain.

Answer 1

Jaime's problem is solved by changing subtraction to addition and applying the rules for adding numbers with different signs. After changing the sign of -(-8) to +8, the addition principles are used to find the solution, which turns out to be -8.

Step-by-step explanation:

Jaime is correct that the problem -9.5 - (-8) -6.5 can be solved using addition. The key idea here is to use the rules for adding numbers with different signs. For subtraction, we change the sign of the number being subtracted and then add using the following principles:

• When subtraction is performed, we change the sign of the number to be subtracted. In this case, -(-8) becomes +8.
• After changing the sign, we then follow the addition rules.
• Adding two numbers with the same sign retains that sign. Adding numbers with opposite signs means subtracting the smaller number from the larger one.

For the given problem, using these principles:

1. Change the subtraction to addition: -9.5 + 8 - 6.5.
2. Add the numbers in pairs: (-9.5 + 8) is -1.5.
3. Now add the remaining number: -1.5 - 6.5 is -8.

So the answer is -8.