Adding Integers Activities

Tuesday, August 28, 2012 11:02 AM

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The way to add integers (negative and positive) on a number line is to first set up the number line. Once you have it set up, you take the first number in the equation, for example, lets take 5 + (-3). We put the 5 on the number line where it is supposed to be, and since -3 is the same thing as "Take away three", we take away three from 5, and the answer is 2.

When solving these problems, 1+(-1), 2 +(-2), and 5+(-5), there are two ways to solve them. First, you can draw them out on the number line, where it starts on one, two, or five, then one, two,
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out on the number line, where it starts on one, two, or five, then one, two, or five are taken away to get 0. The second way is to cancel both of them out against each other since they're opposites, and when exact opposite numbers are added together, they cancel each other out to get 0 as well.

This shows how the examples with number lines and canceling work, and also how to use counters to add negatives. first, you see that there are more yellow counters (Positive) than red counters (Negative), so you know that the answer is positive, but there are also negative counters, so to get a positive number, we would have to take those negatives away. If you look at both the positives and the negatives, you see that there are two counters lined up on each side, and since they each have the same absolute value, 1, they can be cross canceled to get no negatives and a positive number, so the cross canceling works.

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Rule for adding with different signs: Change the "add a negative" to "subtract a positive" in your head, for example, -4+2 can be changed to 2-4. Rule for adding with same signs: If the "same sign" was a negative, then the answer will be a negative, and vise versa, for example, 5+3=8 because it isn't subtracting anything or adding a negative.

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