91Ó°ÊÓ

Understanding negative numbers is essential for solving integer addition problems. A negative number is a number that is less than zero. You will recognize negative numbers because they have a minus sign (-) in front of them.
For example:

• -3
• -50
• -100

Negative numbers represent values below zero, often used to describe losses, debts, or temperatures below freezing. When we work with negative numbers in addition, we need to pay special attention to the signs of the numbers involved.

The absolute value of a number is its distance from zero on the number line, without considering its direction. Absolute values are always positive, as they measure the magnitude of a number.
For example:

• The absolute value of -7 is 7, written as \(| -7 | = 7\).
• The absolute value of 10 is 10, written as \(| 10 | = 10\).

Absolute values are crucial when adding negative numbers. If you need to add -20 and -24, first find their absolute values. \(| -20 | = 20\) and \(| -24 | = 24\). Then, add these positive values together before considering the signs.

The addition operation is one of the basic arithmetic operations where you combine two or more numbers to get a sum. When adding negative numbers, the process slightly differs from adding positive numbers.
For instance, in the problem \-20 + (-24)\, we start by recognizing the operation as addition. However, because both numbers are negative, we first find their absolute values: \(| -20 | = 20\) and \(| -24 | = 24\).
Next, we add these absolute values:

• 20 + 24 = 44

Then, since our original numbers were negative, the result will also be negative:

• -20 + (-24) = -44

Negative numbers combined in addition result in a more negative number, following the principle that combining debts (negative values) increases the total debt.