Integers

The whole numbers you’ve worked with so far can’t describe everything — a temperature below zero, a yard line lost on a football play, or an overdrawn checking account all need numbers less than zero. This chapter extends the number line in the negative direction and shows how addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division work once negative numbers are allowed.

Sections

• Introduction to Integers — locating positive and negative numbers on the number line, ordering integers, opposites, and absolute value.
• Add Integers — modeling addition of integers with counters, and the rules for adding two integers with the same or different signs.
• Subtract Integers — modeling subtraction of integers with counters, and the rules for subtracting integers.
• Multiply and Divide Integers — the sign rules for multiplication and division, and simplifying expressions that combine integers with the order of operations.
• Solve Equations Using Integers; The Division Property of Equality — checking whether a number is a solution of an equation, and solving equations with negative numbers using the addition, subtraction, and division properties of equality.

This chapter overview is adapted from Prealgebra 2e, Chapter 3 Introduction by Lynn Marecek, MaryAnne Anthony-Smith, and Andrea Honeycutt Mathis, © OpenStax, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Access the original for free at openstax.org. Changes: condensed the chapter introduction and recast the chapter outline as a section list.