Wednesday, September 30, 2015

UNDERSTANDING NEGATIVE INTEGERS

Understanding negative integers can be confusing. "A number gets larger but it is lower?"
SAY WHAT?!?!?!?

I hope these tips will help when dealing with negative integers:

  • Negative integers are less than zero.
  • The further you walk away from zero the smaller the integer becomes.
  • Students get confused because we say smaller but the number looks larger, you could say the greater the debt, or the greater the problem. (debt and problem are negative keywords)
  • When comparing negative integers ask yourself which is worse.
    • ex: -43 and -23 
      • If you put a situation to represent the negative you could think of this as "I lost 43 dogs and "I lost 23 dogs." Which is worse? 
      • -43 is worse, therefore it will be the smallest integer.
      • -43 is smaller because it is farther away from zero than -23.

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