What is the answer to negative six minus negative one equal my teacher said when subtracting negatives it equals a positive Helpp?

Answer 1

-6 - (-1) = -6 + 1 = -5

The rule is that if you have two of the same sign beside each other it equals a positive and if you have two different signs beside each other it equals a negative. So when you have - (-1) it equals + 1

Your questions is now (-6) + 1 which could also be +1 (-6). keep the terms and signs together when rearranging.

so your answer is -5.

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It might help if you think of it visually. Imagine numbers as being piles on the ground, where the height of the pile is the value of the number. So the number 1 might be represented by a pile that's one foot high, the number 2 would be two feet high, and so on.

So if you take two of these piles, you can add them together with the same visualisation. If you take a pile that's one foot high and stack it onto another one that's two feet high, and you now have a single pile that's three feet high. In other words, we're saying 1 + 2 = 3.

Negative numbers work the same way, but instead of piles, think of them as holes in the ground. So the number negative one would be a hole that's one foot deep, negative two would be two feet deep, and so on.

If you add two negative numbers together, it's the same as adding those two holes together (think of it as digging one hole into the bottom of the other). So if you have a hole that's one foot deep, and dig another hole in the bottom that's two feet deep, you now have a hole that's three feet deep. In other words -1 + -2 = -3.

Now consider what happens when you take one of your piles, and place it into one of the holes. We're adding a pile (a positive number) to a hole (a negative number). What would happen is that the pile would sink down into the hole, and become that much shorter. If the pile is shorter than the hole to start with, then you will still have a hole in the ground, but not quite as deep. If the pile is taller than the hole, then you'll still have a pile, but not quite as tall. What we're doing here is adding a positive number to a negative number.

For example, say you have a pile that's three feet tall, and you're dropping it into a hole that's two feet deep. That pile would fill up the hole, and have a little left to spare. Since the pile is a foot taller than the hole is deep, you would have that one foot left over. In other words, 3 + -2 = 1

Similarly, if we take a pile that's only two feet high, and put it in a hole that's three feet deep, we now have a shallower hole that's one foot deep. That is, 2 + -3 = -1

Now try to visualise what we're doing when subtracting a negative number. How would you take a hole away? Why, you would fill it in of course! To remove a hole, you fill it with the same amount of dirt (or whatever that hole is dug into). In other words, to remove a hole, you add a pile to it. In the same way, to subtract a negative number, you simply add it.

In other words, saying:

-6 - -1

is exactly the same as saying:

-6 + 1