Maya plots the yards lost during a football game on a number line and labels it A. She plots Point B to the right of zero, a distance that is exactly as far from zero as Point A is. Which sentence is a correct statement about Point B?

Question

The sum of the values of Point A and Point B is negative.
The sum of the values of Point A and Point B is zero.
Point B lies twice the distance from 0 as Point A.
Point B lies to the left of Point A on a number line.

Answer 1

Given that Point B is plotted to the right of zero and is exactly as far from zero as Point A is, this means that Point A must be to the left of zero (since it represents yards lost, which are negative values).

Let's analyze the statements:

1. The sum of the values of Point A and Point B is negative.
   This would be true if Point A is negative and Point B is positive. However, since Point B is exactly the same distance from zero as Point A, they’ll actually cancel each other out in terms of their distance from zero, resulting in a sum of zero. So this statement is not necessarily true.

2. The sum of the values of Point A and Point B is zero.
   Given that Point A is negative and Point B is positive and they are equal in distance from zero, this statement is correct.

3. Point B lies twice the distance from 0 as Point A.
   This statement is incorrect because Point B is the same distance from zero as Point A.

4. Point B lies to the left of Point A on a number line.
   This is false because Point B is to the right of zero, while Point A is to the left of zero; therefore, Point B is actually to the right of Point A.

The correct statement about Point B is:

The sum of the values of Point A and Point B is zero.