Adding and Subtracting Integers

🔑 Key Concepts

• When adding integers with the same sign, add the numbers and keep the sign.
• When adding integers with different signs, subtract the absolute values and use the sign of the number with the larger absolute value.
• Subtracting a negative is the same as adding a positive.
• Absolute value represents the distance from zero on the number line.
• The number line can be used to visualize movement left for negative values and right for positive values.

✏️ Worked Examples – Adding and Subtracting Integers

💡 Main Idea

Adding and subtracting integers depends on the signs of the numbers. If the signs are the same, add the values and keep the sign. If the signs are different, subtract the absolute values and use the sign of the number with the larger absolute value. Subtracting a negative is equivalent to adding a positive. These rules allow students to evaluate expressions such as \( -5-8-6 \) or \( 7-(-3)+5 \) by identifying signs first and then applying the correct operation.

📚 What You Should Already Know

Students should understand positive and negative numbers, how to locate numbers on a number line, and the meaning of absolute value. Students should also be familiar with basic addition and subtraction of whole numbers and recognize that negative numbers represent values below zero, such as debt, temperature decreases, or movement to the left on a number line.

🚀 What Comes Next

After mastering addition and subtraction of integers, students will apply these rules to solving multi-step expressions, evaluating algebraic expressions, and working with rational numbers. These skills are also essential for understanding coordinate planes, equations, and real-world problems involving temperature, elevation, and financial gains or losses.

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