Question

What is the correct interpretation of the expression-6-(-5)?

Answer 1

`-6 - (-5) = -6 + 5 = -1`

The minus sign outside the bracket represents minus one. When you remove the brackets you must multiply everything inside by minus one. This has the effect of just changing the signs so minus five becomes positive five.

Answer 2

`-6-(-5)=-1`

Explanation:

Given:

`-6-(-5)`

According to the order of operations, multiplication comes before subtraction or addition.

`-(-5)` is understood to be `-1xx-5`.

Simplify.

`-6+5`

Add.

`-1`

Answer 3

It can also be interpreted as....

Explanation:

The difference between `-6 and -5`

Subtract `-5` from `-6`

So;

`-6 - (-5)`

Recall: `- xx - = +`

`-6 + 5`

`-1`

Answer 4

See below:

Explanation:

The expression is read as "negative `6` minus negative `5`".

Recall, that when we subtract a negative number, it is the same as adding the positive version of it. This means we can rewrite it as

`-6+5`, which evaluates to `-1`.

To make this a little bit more tangible, we can also rewrite the expression we started with as

`-6-1(-5)`

Since we have a negative multiplying the `-5`, there is implicitly a `-1` there. What would we do here?

We would distribute the `-1` to the parenthesis and be left with

`-6+5`, which also evaluates to `-1`.

Hope this helps!