Chapter 3 is really hard. With all the negatives, and positives, I sometimes get confused about which way to go, up the number line, or down. But, when I got some rules set, I got it figured out. Here’s the problem I was stuck on:
– 6.89 – (-29.4)
I didn’t understand how 2 negatives were supposed to turn into a positive, or which way I was supposed to go, up or down. Then, I found out, that when there are too many negatives in a row, both the negatives disappear, replaced by a positive. That simplified the equation a little.
-6.89 + 29.4
I was still kind of confused. But, I just added them. My answer, was – 36.29. Well, I was wrong. Since the first number was a negative, I guessed that the second one was telling me to go further into the negatives. My answer would’ve been right, it the second number was a negative as well. Only if they had the same sign would I go further down the number line. So, this told me, that the only other way to solve it, was to go up from – 6.89, adding 29.4. My final answer was 22.51, correct!
