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Negative and Positive Rules

Home > By Subject > Numbers > Integers > Negative and Positive Rules

Two Signs Together?

"-" and "+"signs show two things:

  1. whether an integer is positive or negative
  2. whether the operation is add or subtract

When we do operations (like adding and subtracting) with integers we often end up with two signs next to each other. This can be confusing but the rules below can help:
Text Size: A | A | A | A
B A C K G R O U N D
C O L O R _ _ _ _ _

+3 means positive three. 3 is the same as +3

We usually don't say "positive" or write the + sign so you will not see two plus signs together very often.

Rules For Adding and Subtracting Positive and Negative Integers

Combination
 Hint Signs
negative and a positive
minus and a plus
 Positively a negative + - = -
- + = -
negative and a negative
minus and a minus 		Not negative - so it's positive - - = +
positive and a positive
plus and a plus		 Positively positive + + = +
Examples of Combining Negative and Positive Signs
This is ...
... the same as this ... and it equals
-2 + (-3)
-2 - 3 -5
6 - (+4)
6 - 4 2
-7 - (-5)
-7 + 5 -2
8 + (+9)
8 + 9 17

Use these two worksheets to practice applying the rules to the addition and subtraction of integers:

 



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