The vertical number line shows the height of a pool above and below the desired height at 0.

Question

Thursday is 3 units above 0 and Wednesday is 2 units below 0.

Which equation shows how to find the distance between the water levels on Wednesday and Thursday?

A.
3
+
(
−
2
)
=
3
+
2

B.
3
−
(
−
2
)
=
3
−
2

C.
3
−
(
−
2
)
=
3
+
2

D.
3
+
(
−
2
)
=
3
−
2

Answer 1

To find the distance between the water levels on Wednesday and Thursday, you need to consider the heights of both days: Thursday is at +3 (3 units above 0) and Wednesday is at -2 (2 units below 0).

The distance between these two heights is calculated as the absolute difference between them. Mathematically, you would express the distance as:

\[ \text{Distance} = |3 - (-2)| \]

This can be simplified to:

\[ \text{Distance} = |3 + 2| = 5 \]

Now, among the options provided, option C represents this correctly because it calculates the distance using an addition of a negative:

C. \(3 - (-2) = 3 + 2\)

So the answer is C.