If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

Main content

Adding negative numbers review

Review the basic of adding negative numbers and try some practice problems.

Adding negative numbers with a number line

Adding 2 negative numbers

Lets add ?6+(?7).
Step 1: Start at the first number, in this case ?6:
Step 2: Move 7 more places to the left. We move 7 to the left because adding negative 7 decreases our number by 7.
?6+(?7) takes us to ?13 on the number line.
?6+(?7)=?13

Adding a negative number and a positive number

Lets add ?8+3.
Step 1: Start at the first number, in this case ?8:
Step 2: Move 3 places to the right. We move 3 to the right because adding positive 3 increases our number by 3.
?8+3 takes us to ?5 on the number line.
?8+3=?5
Want to learn more about adding negative numbers? Check out this video.

Practice

Problem 1
Add.
5+(?4)=
  • Your answer should be
  • an integer, like 6
  • a simplified proper fraction, like 3/5
  • a simplified improper fraction, like 7/4
  • a mixed number, like 1 3/4
  • an exact decimal, like 0.75
  • a multiple of pi, like 12 pi or 2/3 pi

Want to try some more adding negative numbers problems? Check out this exercise.

Want to join the conversation?