Kiss those Math Headaches GOODBYE!

Posts tagged ‘Integers’

How to Combine Positive & Negative Numbers — Quickly and Easily


If you or someone you know struggles when combining numbers with opposite signs — one positive, the other negative — this post is for you!

To be clear, I’m referring to problems like these:

 – 2 + 7 [first number negative, second number positive], or

+ 13 – 20 [first number positive, second number negative]

To work out the answers, turn each problem into a math-story. In this case, turn it into the story of a tug-of-war battle. Here’s how.

In the first problem, – 2 + 7, view the – 2 as meaning there are 2 people on the “negative” team; similarly, view the + 7 as meaning there are 7 people on the “positive” team.

There are just three things to keep in mind for this math-story:

1)  Every “person” participating in the tug-of-war is equally strong.

2)  The team with more people always wins; the team with fewer people always loses.

3)  In the story we figure out by how many people the winning team “outnumbers” the other team. That’s simple; it just means how many more people are on that team than are on the other team. Example: if the negative team has 2 people and the positive team has 7 people, we say the positive team “outnumbers” the negative team by 5 people, since 7 is 5 more than 2.

Now to simplify such a problem, just answer three simple questions: 

1)  How many people are on each team?
In our first problem, – 2 + 7, there are 2 people on the negative team and 7 people on the positive team.

2)  Which team WINS?
Since there are more people on the positive team, the positive team wins.

3) By how many people does the winning team OUTNUMBER the losing team?
Since the positives have 7 while the negatives have only 2, the positives outnumber the negatives by 5.

Now ignore the answer to the intro question, Question 1, but put together your answers to Questions 2 and 3.

ANSWER TO QUESTION 2:  +

ANSWER TO QUESTION 3:  5

ANSWERS TOGETHER:  + 5

All in all, this tells us that:  – 2 + 7 = + 5

For those of you who’ve torn your hair out over such problems, I have good news …

… THEY REALLY ARE THIS SIMPLE!

But to believe this, it will help to work out one more problem:  + 13 – 20.

Here, again, are the common-sense questions, along with their answers.

1)  How many people are on each team?
In this problem, + 13 – 20, there are 13 people on the positive team and 20 people on the negative team.

2)  Which team WINS?
Since there are more people on the negative team in this problem, the negative team wins.

3) By how many people does the winning team OUTNUMBER the losing team?
Since the negatives have 20 while the positives have only 13, the negatives outnumber the positives by 7.

Just as you did in the first problem, put together your answers to Questions 2 and 3.

ANSWER TO QUESTION 2:  –

ANSWER TO QUESTION 3:  7

ANSWERS TOGETHER:  – 7

All in all, this tells us that:  + 13 – 20  = – 7

Now try these for practice:

a)  – 3 + 9

b) + 1 – 4

c)  –  9 + 23

d)  – 37 + 19

e) + 49 – 82

Answer to Practice Problems:

a)  – 3 + 9 = + 6

b) + 1 – 4 = – 3

c)  –  9 + 23 = + 14

d)  – 37 + 19 = – 18

e) + 49 – 82 = – 33

Josh Rappaport is the author of five books on math, including the Parents Choice-award winning Algebra Survival Guide. If you like the way Josh explains these problems, you will very likely like the Algebra Survival Guide and companion Workbook, both of which are available on Amazon.com  Just click the links in the sidebar for more information! 

Category:

Algebra Survival Guide, FUN PROBLEM, Golden Porch Award, Making Math Fun, Math stories, Math Theories, Number Sense, Number Theory, Offer a Menu of Options, Offering a variety of approaches, Order of Operations, Positive & Negative Numbers, Practice Problems, Pre-Algebra, Subtraction, Tutoring, Uncategorized

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Subtracting Integers


A reader named Michelle said she enjoyed my post on Memorizing the Times Tables. And then she asked if I have any tips on teaching students to SUBTRACT INTEGERS.

It turns out that the answer is “yes,” and there are two places where I model this topic.

The first is an excerpt from my Algebra Survival Guide, an excerpt about subtracting integers that you can check out now.

First click on this link, then scroll down to read pages 43-46 (you can enlarge the print size by increasing the percentage located in the top bar):

http://www.singingturtle.com/downloads/ASG%20sample%20chapter.pdf

But there’s more:

I wrote an entire book on the topic of combining integers, PreAlgebra Blastoff! We created foam manipulatives to get across the idea of integers. There’s a piece of a foam with a hole in the center, the NEGATon, which stands for – 1. There’s a piece that fills the hole, the POSITon, and that manipulative stands for + 1. When you put the POSITon inside the NEGATon, you get 0, and that is a piece called a ZERObi.

Using these manipuatives you can model and teach students how to combine integers, and add and subtract integers.

To learn more about this system and to see how the manipulatives work, go to this website:

http://www.singingturtle.com/pages/ADMINISTRATORS3.html

Let me know if you have any questions on this topic. It’s certainly an important issue.

Happy teaching!

— Josh


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Category:

Algebra, Integers, Order of Operations, Positive & Negative Numbers, Pre-Algebra, Using STORIES

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Make Combining Integers a Lively Story



Who says you can’t have fun with integers?

For a number of years I’ve been using a fun story to explain the concept of combining integers with different signs. While I used to struggle at getting this concept across to certain kids, now, thanks to this story, there’s virtually no one who cannot grasp the concept when it is taught this way.

I’d like to share it with you now so you can use it, too.

The idea was first presented on p. 41 of my Algebra Survival Guide, along with a cartoon picture. The basic idea is that you can conceive of problems like:  – 3 + 9,  + 6 – 14,  – 9 + 4, etc. as a tug-of-war.

Here’s the situation — there are two teams, a positive team and a negative team. To see this kind of problem as made of two teams, you have to look at it in a certain way, a way that may be new to some of you. Take a problem like – 3 + 9. You DO NOT view this as “negative 3 plus 9.” Rather, you look at it as make up of two parts: a – 3 part, and a + 9 part. [This has always made more sense to me anyhow.]

So … the “– 3” part tells us there are three people pulling on the negative team, while the “+ 9” part tells us there are nine people pulling on the positive team.

To avoid false assumptions, tell students that all people pulling are equally strong. In other words it would be impossible, for example, for 3 on the negative team to beat 4 on the positive team. Whichever team has more people pulling must win. [I’ll discuss the situation with equal numbers of people on both teams at the end of this entry.]

Then tell students they need to ask and answer just two simple questions to find the answer:

Q#1:  Which team wins?  [In – 3 + 9, the positives win because they have more people pulling.]

Q#2:  By how many people does the winning team outnumber the losing team? [In – 3 + 9, the positives outnumber the negatives by 6, since they have 9 pulling compared to the negatives, who have just 3 pulling.]

When students put their answers together, they get the answer to the problem:  + 6. Amazingly simple, huh? All it takes is looking at things in this fun new way.

I’ve put together a little template that you can reproduce and use to teach this rule in this way.

What follows is an example that shows in step-by-step fashion how students would input the data that leads them to the correct answer.

First we’ll show this for the problem:    – 6 + 2

The empty template:

Then students input the problem, – 6 + 2, and they write in how many people are on each team, like this:

 

Next students make tick marks to show the number of people pulling on the each team, 6 marks on the Negative Team side; 2 marks on the Positive Team side:

 

Next students answer the two questions, right on the template.

Finally students write in the answer, based on the answers to the questions.

 

Here’s another model of how students would use the template, this time for a problem whose answer is positive the problem:  – 4 + 9

 

 

 

So that’s all there is to it.  If you find anyone who cannot learn it this way, let me know. I’ll be amazed.

I suggest using the template for a few days, and then, once students have the idea down cold, let them go off the template. The nice thing is that even after they go off the template, if they get a wrong answer, a really wrong answer, like:  – 3 + 5 = – 8, you can ask them to think this out as a tug-of-war, and they will virtually always get it right at that point. Cool, huh?

In a case where there are equal numbers of people on the positive and negative teams, the answer will be zero. Example:  – 4 + 4 = 0.  In terms of the tug-of-war, you might say this is a situation where neither team wins, and it ends as a tie. So a tie in the real world is a bit like 0 in the math world.

Feel free to leave comments on the blog on how well this works for you in your teaching.

And finally, if you don’t yet have my Algebra Survival Guide, it is loaded with analogies and metaphors just like this one. Teachers, parents, homeschoolers all enjoy and use this book.

50% OFF Sale for both the Algebra Survival Guide and Workbook at my website: SingingTurtle.com

Algebra Survival Guide: Regular Price $19.95 — Sale Price $9.95

Algebra Survival Workbook: Regular Price $9.95 — Sale Price $4.95

ASG-Image-for-AD

 

 

You can also purchase both the Guide and Workbook at Amazon.com

You’ll be able to download a sample chapter that includes the concepts in this post at SingingTurtle.com or Amazon.com

You’ll find that the Algebra Survival Guide has 173 Amazon customer reviews, with a 4.5 star rating!

Happy teaching!

—  Josh


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Category:

Algebra, Integers, Making Math Fun, Math Instruction Techniques, Positive & Negative Numbers, Pre-Algebra, Uncategorized, Using STORIES

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Color Your Way to Integer Success


We all know that one of the trickiest subject for many students is the subject of combining integers.

I’ve hit on a new way to help students with this topic, a way that involves using color.

Using different colors helps students relate similar concepts and separate different concepts. Color works faster than underlining or drawing rings around numbers, it’s more attractive, and it makes a student’s page fun to look at, too.

Here’s just one example of how using color can help students make sense of those oft-bewildering positive and negative numbers.

Take a problem like:   + 3 – 7 + 6 – 9

Many students get confused by a problem like this because they don’t have the least idea of what to do first.

But when you use color, tell students that the first step is an easy step:  just re-write the problem, making the positive numbers red, and the negative numbers blue, like this:


The next step is equally easy … group the positives on the left and the negatives on the right. I use my handy-dandy “double-slash” divider to show the separation, like this:

After that, use the rule for combining integers with the same sign (here you can say “with the same color!”), like this:


At this point you depart from color, as you combine the integers with different signs, and you get the answer, like this:


All together, it looks like this:


 

I have found this approach extremely helpful for those students — and you know the ones I’m talking about — who just struggle endlessly with these rules. 

By the way, if you’d like to see the chapter of my Algebra Survival Guide, which explains the “Same-Sign” Rule and the “Mixed-Sign” Rule, just go to this page and scroll down about half-way down till you come to the link for downloading chapters:

http://singingturtle.com/pages/PARENTS3.html

Please try this out yourself and feel free to let me know how it goes. I’m always open to feedback.

Category:

Math Instruction Techniques, Pre-Algebra, Uncategorized, Using COLOR when Teaching Math

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