Chapter 2
Deciphering Signs in Expressions
IN THIS CHAPTER
Using the number line
Recognizing operations
Operating on signed numbers: adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
Numbers have many characteristics: They can be big, little, even, odd, whole, fractions, positive, negative, and sometimes cold and indifferent. (I’m kidding about that last one.) Chapter 1 describes numbers’ different names and categories. But this chapter concentrates mainly on how numbers compare to one another, what their comparison looks like on the number line, the positive and negative characteristics of numbers, and how a number’s sign reacts to different manipulations. This chapter tells you how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide signed numbers, no matter whether all the numbers are all the same sign or a combination of positive and negative.
Assigning Numbers Their Place
Positive numbers are greater than 0. They’re on the opposite side of 0 from the negative numbers. If you were to arrange a tug-of-war between positive and negative numbers, the positive numbers would line up on the right side of 0. Negative numbers get smaller and smaller, the farther they are from 0. This situation can ...
Get Algebra I All-in-One For Dummies now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
