We know that Michelle has a bank account of one hundred eighty four dollars, she then deposits thirty eight into her account, then goes shopping. Spending forty-five dollars. We are then asked the amount of money she spent being represented.
Our keyword is "spent" and "fourty-five". These determine how much money is being taken away or added.
Since we know that spending money is decreasing the amount you have, then we would need a negative sign, and since we also know the amount she spended on is forty-five, that leads us to our answer being -45
