Final answer:
The student is looking for pairs of negative integers that satisfy the equation x - y = -1. One such pair is x = -3 and y = -2, where y is one unit less negative than x. This pattern applies to any pair of negative integers that are one unit apart.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking for pairs of negative integers x and y that would make the equation x - y = -1 true. To find pairs that satisfy this equation, we want to find values of x and y such that when y is subtracted from x, the result is -1. For example, if we choose x = -2 and y = -3, this pair satisfies the equation because -2 - (-3) = -2 + 3 = 1, which is not the correct answer. We need to reverse the values so we subtract a larger negative number from a smaller one. If we use x = -3 and y = -2 then -3 - (-2) = -3 + 2 = -1, which does satisfy the equation.
So, one correct pair would be x = -3 and y = -2. Any pair x, y where y is just one unit less negative than x will work, such as x = -4, y = -3, or x = -100, y = -99, and so on.