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There many questions like this and I still don't understand how to solve it. Can someone please explain the process to get this answer? (–8) × 5

Reply 1

flowersinmyhair

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Study Forum Helper

Original post by xzyuo_137

There many questions like this and I still don't understand how to solve it. Can someone please explain the process to get this answer? (–8) × 5

when you multiply a negative number by a positive number you get a negative number. Is that what you are asking?

Reply 2

xzyuo_137

Original post by flowersinmyhair

when you multiply a negative number by a positive number you get a negative number. Is that what you are asking?

Kind of, I was wondering about the brackets and what to do with them.

Reply 3

davros

Original post by xzyuo_137

Kind of, I was wondering about the brackets and what to do with them.

In this case the brackets can be removed, since there is no operation being carried out within them. So you are simply multiplying two numbers together: -8 and 5.

Is this part of a larger problem that you're working on?

Reply 4

xzyuo_137

No thats all,. Thank You, so i remove brackets since it has nothing to do?

Reply 5

davros

Original post by xzyuo_137

No thats all,. Thank You, so i remove brackets since it has nothing to do?

Yes - assuming they're just "normal" brackets that don't indicate some special operation (not very likely in school-level maths), so

(-8) x 5 = -8 x 5 = ...