Question

I need help to simplify this problem.
-4.5+4.2+5.6-7.3

Answer 1

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by simplify, but I'll give it a shot

you can break the problem down and use "shortcuts" to try to make the arithmetic easier

for example, starting with -4.5 + 4.2, think about how the -4 and +4 cancel each other out, and you're left with -0.5 + 0.2 which is -0.3

so subbing that in, we have:

-0.3 + 5.6 - 7.3

now, notice how we can combine the -0.3 and -7.3 to get -7.6

so subbing that in, we have:

-7.6 + 5.6

the decimal parts cancel out (-0.6 + 0.6) and you're left with -7 + 5

@tweetytb does that make sense?