Question

Look at the expression below. Do not solve. Use the dropdowns below to state if the answer would be positive or negative and explain why.
9, times, minus, 3, divided by, minus, 12, divided by, 6, times, 3, times, minus, 2
9×−3÷−12÷6×3×−2

Answer 1

To determine whether the final answer of the expression \( 9 \times -3 \div -12 \div 6 \times 3 \times -2 \) is positive or negative, we can analyze the signs of the numbers involved in multiplication and division.

1. **Identify the signs**:
- \( 9 \) is positive.
- \( -3 \) is negative.
- \( -12 \) is negative.
- \( 6 \) is positive.
- \( 3 \) is positive.
- \( -2 \) is negative.

2. **Count the total number of negative factors**:
- There are three negative numbers: \( -3 \), \( -12 \), and \( -2 \).

3. **Determine the product sign**:
- The product of an even number of negative factors is positive.
- The product of an odd number of negative factors is negative.
- Since there are three (an odd number of) negative factors, the overall sign of the expression will be negative.

Thus, the answer would be **negative** because the total number of negative signs in the multiplication is odd.