Expert: Lynn Houston - 9/22/2008

Question
Please help me help my daughter  
15+(-32)=

Answer
15+(-32)= is the same as 15 - 32, which = -17

When you have parenthesis, if the sign in front is plus, then you can just remove the parens (if it's only addition and subtraction in the parens).  If the sign in front is a minus, then you change the signs of everything in the parens.  For instance, say your eq was 15 - (12 + 2 - 4), then to remove the parens, you'd get 15 -12 -2 + 4.  If you add what is in the parens in the first eq and then subtract if from 15, you'll see that it is eq to the second eq, once you've changed all the signs and done the math.  Make sense?