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Let's locate negative 4 on the number line.
Since negative 4 is less than 0, we'll move four steps left from zero, where each step represents one whole number as follows:
Now let's look at the operation in the exercise.
Since the operation is
And since 7 is greater than 0, we'll move seven steps to the right from negative 4, where each step represents one whole number as follows:
We can see that we arrived at the number 3.
a is negative number.
b is negative number.
What is the sum of a+b?
On a number line, positive numbers increase as you move right. Adding means 'going up' in value, so you always move right when adding positive numbers, regardless of where you start.
It doesn't matter where you start! The rule stays the same: add positive = move right, add negative = move left. Starting at -4 and adding 7 still means moving 7 steps to the right.
Start from your beginning number and count each tick mark as one step. From -4: step 1 goes to -3, step 2 to -2, continuing until step 7 lands on 3.
Absolutely! If you add a positive number that's bigger than the absolute value of your negative starting point, you'll cross zero and end up positive. Like .
Use the rule: . When adding a positive to a negative, subtract the smaller absolute value from the larger and take the sign of the larger number.
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