Operations on Combination of Positive and negative numbers

The numbers have been fascinating to the humankind for so many years. First we started with the natural numbers. The concept of whole numbers emerged after the advent of natural numbers. The number zero was added to the number line with this. Many scientists still don’t agree to the idea of having zero clubbed with whole numbers. Along with whole came the concept of negative numbers. The question was where to accommodate them. This was solved with the introduction of integers.

Then the question how to define integers, with the introduction of negative numbers emerged. This was solved by adding the negative numbers under the umbrella of integers. There can be various integers examples to explain the concept. Positive numbers were called positive integers and negative numbers came to be known as negative integers. Zero also formed the part of integer set. Now let us see how to do integers operations for better understanding. ‘-5’ is an example of negative integer. So, by now one must have understood what is integers and will be able to define it. The need for integers arose when negative numbers came into picture.

The art of teaching integers can be very interesting. The concept of negative numbers being added to the number is very fascinating for the students who were just dealing with positive numbers all the while. Students may need integers help as the concept will be new for beginners. Integers can also be added, subtracted, multiplied and so on as like the other numbers. Both the positive and negative integers can be easily added and subtracted. The only thing is that when we add two negative integers we get a negative integer unlike the addition of two positive integers where we get a positive integer as an answer. The rules for integer operations are very simple and can be explained with the help of examples. When a negative integer is added with a positive integer the sign of the answer depends on the magnitude of the integers. If we add ‘-4’ and ‘2’ the answer would be ‘-2’. It is because the magnitude of negative integer is more. So, we carry out the subtraction operation and the sign of the larger integer is the sign of the answer. If we add ‘-4’       and ‘-2’ we get ‘-6’, i.e. both numbers are added and minus sign put.