Question

Reiny (Previous problem) better form would be to place the equal sign in front of each new line
You also have errors
-3(x + 3)- 2(x + 4)
= -3x - 9 - 2x - 8
= -3x - 2x - 9 - 8
= -5x - 17

So -3 x 3 made -9. how did the 2 become negative, I thought it was a subtraction sign?

Answer 1

you can think of it as

(-3)(x+3) + (-2)(x+4)

Answer 2

so it would look like this
-3x - 9 -2x - 8
What happens to the addition sign? Can you show me how?

Answer 3

come on. adding a negative number is the same as subtracting a positive one.

6-4 = 6+(-4)

Think of it as moving left and right on the number line. Subtracting 4 means moving left 4 places. So does adding -4.