Question

What is 2-(-8)????? And how do you solve it????

Answer 1

Answer: 10

Subtracting a negative is the same as adding a positive. So 2-(-8) is really 2+8 = 10.

With something like 2-8, we start at 2 and move to the left 8 units to arrive at -6 on the number line. When we do 2-(-8), we start at 2 and move 8 units in the opposite direction since -8 is the opposite of 8.

In terms of money, you can think of a negative number as an IOU or it represents the amount of debt. Writing -8 means you are 8 dollars in debt. If we subtract away debt, then we have less of it and effectively its the same as adding dollars to your pocket. Subtracting away 8 dollars of debt is the same as adding 8 dollars to your pocket, which is one interpretation of how 2-(-8) is the same as 2+8.