How do you multiply #4*-3#?

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Answer 1 · 2016-06-24T01:10:08

The #-3# can be written as #(-1)(3)# and so can be seen as a multiplication. Multiply by 4 and get #-12#.

Let's break down the expression a little:

The original is:

#4*-3#

What we have here is a 4 and it's multiplying #-3#. And #-3# is #-1# times 3. So we can rewrite this to say:

#4*(-1)*3#

We can do the multiplication in whichever order we'd like - I'll multiply the positive numbers first, then multiply by the negative:

#4*3*(-1)=12*(-1)=-12#