Integers

Leah had always done well in her math class – until now.  Her class is learning about integers and she just doesn’t understand them.  She knows that there is a difference of 2 between 3 and 5 and thinks that it doesn’t matter if she writes this as 5 – 3 or 3 – 5.  

Paul told her that if the minuend is larger than the subtrahend then the answer will be positive, but if the minuend is small than the subtrahend the answer will be negative.

This just confused Leah even more so Jessica decided to show her how things worked by using counters and number lines.  Once Leah saw it with pictures she got it!

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