What must be true about two integers that combine to equal zero

Answer 1

For two integers to combine to equal zero, they must be additive inverses of each other. This means that one integer must be the negative of the other.

Mathematically, if we have two integers \( a \) and \( b \), they will combine to equal zero if:

\[ a + b = 0 \]

This implies:

\[ b = -a \]

For example, if \( a = 5 \), then \( b \) must be \( -5 \) for their sum to be zero. Thus, the key requirement is that one integer is the negative of the other.