In the scenario described, Sebastian initially goes up 8 floors and then down 5 floors. To represent this mathematically, we can think of his movements in terms of starting from a point (let's say ground level or 0) where moving up is positive and moving down is negative.
- Up 8 floors can be represented as +8.
- Down 5 floors can be represented as -5.
The total change in position can be represented by adding these two movements together:
\[ 0 + 8 - 5 \]
This simplifies to:
\[ 8 - 5 = 3 \]
So he ends up 3 floors above the ground.
However, the expression you provided, \( 5 + (-8) \), is not a correct representation of his movements since it suggests that he starts at 5 and then goes down 8, which doesn't fit the scenario.
Among the options provided:
- Sebastian should have used –5 and 8. (Incorrect)
- Sebastian should have started at zero before adding –8. (Incorrect)
- Sebastian should have used 0 and –8. (Incorrect)
- Sebastian should have switched the two addends and written −8 + 5. (Correct way to express movement)
The most accurate response is: Sebastian should have switched the two addends and written -8 + 5.