How can you subtract integers in real world situations?

Answer 1

Subtracting integers can be relevant in various real-world situations. Here are a few examples:

1. Financial Transactions: If you have a certain amount of money and you spend some, you can subtract the amount spent from what you have to determine your remaining balance. For example, if you start with $50 and spend $20, you calculate \(50 - 20 = 30\). If you have debts, you can represent money owed as a negative integer; for instance, if you owe $30 and you pay back $10, your debt changes from \(-30\) to \(-20\) (which can also be seen as \( -30 + 10 = -20\)).

2. Temperature Changes: If the temperature starts at 20 degrees Celsius and decreases by 5 degrees, you can use subtraction to find the new temperature. This would be expressed mathematically as \(20 - 5 = 15\). Conversely, if it’s 5 degrees below zero (-5°C) and the temperature rises by 3 degrees, you find the new temperature as \(-5 + 3 = -2\).

3. Elevation: When dealing with elevation, a height above sea level can be positive, while below sea level is negative. For instance, if you are at 50 meters above sea level (represented as +50) and you descend 70 meters, you can calculate your new elevation as \(50 - 70 = -20\), indicating you are 20 meters below sea level.

4. Scoring in Games: In many sports or games, teams can score positive points, but they can also lose points for penalties or mistakes. If a team's score is +15 and they incur a penalty that costs them 5 points, you would compute their new score as \(15 - 5 = 10\).

5. Inventory Management: For businesses, managing inventory often involves subtracting the number of items sold from the existing stock. If a store has 100 units of a product and sells 25, the calculation would be \(100 - 25 = 75\) units left in stock.

6. Distance Traveled: Suppose you are hiking in a mountain range and start at an elevation of 3000 meters, but you hike down 1200 meters. You would subtract the distance descended: \(3000 - 1200 = 1800\) meters, representing your new elevation.

These examples illustrate that subtracting integers is a common and practical operation in many areas of life, helping to quantify changes, losses, and comparisons.