Little Timmy walked to school. It was his first week of seventh grade. He was so exited for math class!

When he got to math class, there was a list of math problems on his desk.

1.)  A football team loses 5 yards on one play and then loses 8 yards on the next play.  How 

many yards did they lose on the two plays?

How do we represent a loss of 5 yards?

How do we represent a loss of 8 yards?

To solve this, he did:

How do we represent a loss of 5 yards?

-5

How do we represent a loss of 8 yards?

-8

Final: (-5) + (-8) = -13 yards

2.) When Steve woke up. His temperature was 102º F. Two hours later it was 3º lower. What was his temperature then?

To solve this problem, he did:

102 - 3

Then, using the additive inverse, he did:

102 + (-3)

Final answer: 99 degrees

3.) What are the rules of subtracting integers?

Timmy's Answer (positive): When subtracting positive numbers and the first # has a greater absolute value, the answer will be positive, but less than the first number. However, when the second integer has a larger absolute value, the answer will be negative.

(Negative): The answer will increase from the first #. To answer the problem, you have to use the additive inverse. As a result, the answer will be negative when the first integer has a larger absolute value. However, when the second integer has a larger value, the answer will be positive.