Question

A team gained 5 yards on their first play of the game. Then they lost 6 yards. What is the total change in yardage?

Answer 1

`-1`

Explanation:

Let's say the set of downs starts at the 20 yard line (maybe the kicking team kicked deep, the receiving team took a knee and so play starts at the 20).

Ok - we're at the 20. First down - they advance 5 yards. So we're now at the 25. We can write that mathematically as:

`20+5=25`

So the second play they get sacked deep and lose 6 yards. So we subtract 6:

`25-6=19`

So what's the change in yardage for the 2 plays? We are on the 19 and started at the 20, so we can write:

`19-20=-1`

and this makes sense because we know we advanced 5 and fell back 6:

`+5-6=-1`

Answer 2

The change is: lost 1 yard

Explanation:

Using the principle of opposites directions have a change in sign

Put together all the changes and see what you end up with

Let gain be positive direction
Let lost be negative direction

Gain `-> +5`
Lost `-> -6`

Putting them together we have `5-6 =-1`

So the change is -1 but negative represents lost yards

They are 1 yard behind their start position

So the change is Lost 1 yard