Question

Marissa subtracted a negative number from a positive number. Her result was negative. Is that reasonable? Explain.

Answer 1

let's try to write an equation for this

suppose a and b are both positive numbers

if we write a negative sign in front of b, we can represent a generic negative number. so the scenario "subtracting a negative number from a positive number" can be represented with:

a - (-b) = a + b

if a and b are both positive, can the result be negative?