I am trying to start again with math, giving it a second shot after i completly gave up on math for about 10y. I looked up multiple cheet sheets and rules, but they all say different things. My problem especially +29 – +59. The rule thing i got from the internet says + – + = larger integer’s sign, but then another tutorial said well if you reverse + and -, then you can get the answer that way, but they are 2 different answers. And i’m confused too about what, like what’s the point of doing the operations if we can just change whatever symbols we want, but then we do but nothing matches as the result so i’m just confused.
I just don’t get it, none of the rules match and in my head none of it even makes any sense. So i feel like i need to memorize the rules, but there are no rules. Pls help, i started crying due to the fustration because now i remembered why i despised math so much.
Update: I started being able to complete operations, even of 5 in a row. Thank you all! Ended up dropping tje unecessary + and just – – = + idk, but i’m doing it.
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>The rule thing i got from the internet says + – + = larger integer’s sign
Would be extremely interested to know what planet this specific piece of math knowledge came from lmao.
First, we don’t sign positive integers. It’s 56, not +56.
Second, do not differentiate between +/- being a sign (positive and negative), and +/- being an **operation** (addition/substraction). For all intents and purposes, **it is the exact same thing**.
Once you understand that, you being to understand why 56-38 can be read two ways: 58 minus 38, or, 58 added to minus 38.
56-38 = 56 + (-38). Yet we never write the latter.
So a long list of additions and subtractions would just look like -15+72+23-41-2+8. You will **never** see two signs one after the other.
If you’re adding a negative number: 5+(-8), you’re just subtracting: 5-8.
If you’re subtracting a positive number: 5-(+8), you’re just, once again, subtracting: 5-8.
Once you know that, the rest is trivial. Take -2+38-56. You can start from either side, so let’s do the latter:
38-56 is a negative number since 56 is larger than 38. Result is -18.
That leaves -2-18. That’s -20. Subtracting two negative numbers is the same as adding them. Just think of someone taking 2 apples away then 18 more. The total number of apples you’re missing is 20.
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