Question

the temperature in montreal was -15 degrees. in nyc the temperature was 11 degrees . how many degrees warmer was the temperature in nyc

Answer 1

First we must state what we know:
Montreal = -15 degrees
NYC= 11 degrees

Then we must come up with an equation to figure out the difference (subtraction) between the two temps.

We use “X” because we don’t know the difference (answer) yet…

X-15=11

We are setting the equation equal to 11 because we are trying to figure out how much warmer NYC is compared to MONTREAL.

Then all we must do is solve for x.

Remember all variables must stay to one side and ANY number that switches sides between the equal sign (=) must switch their signs…


So… because -15 was negative (-) it changed to (+)… BUT if the 15 was positive (+) it WOULD change to negative (-).