Which situation can be represented by the equation -4 x 5 =-20?

1 Answer
Jun 12, 2018

Negative numbers can be good to represent missing things, for example.

Explanation:

Since mankind naturally started to use numbers to count, the concept of negative numbers can seem unpractical at first. Nevertheless, just as positive numbers represent the presence of something, negative numbers can mean the absence of things.

In your example, you may think of the equation as "four units missing five times cause a global missing of twenty units", which kinda makes sense.

For example, think of the following example: you are part of a group collecting money for a certain purpose, and everyone has to give their share to reach the required amount of money.

Still, five people give #4# dollars less than they should. You, as a group, would then be short of #20# dollars.

This is represented by the equation

#(-4) * 5 = -20#