2 minus a negative 2 equals

Question

Showing a 6th grader how to use a number line. Complete problem is (2 - -2) + (3 - -3)=  ; in word explanation:

(2 minus a negative2) + (3 minus a negative3) =

Answer 1

2 - (-2) = 2 + 2 = 4

 

The practice of writing two consecutive minus sign in an expression, as shown in "complete problem," is an extremely bad one. The proper way to handle such things is to enclose a negative value within its own parentheses, as I did at the start of this answer.

As Jaime Garcia told his students, A MINUS TIMES A MINUS IS A PLUS.