Negative Zones

Greetings.

I come to you soliciting assistance. When it comes to adding two negative integers, I am confused. When you add two numbers, shouldn't it result in an increase in the sum? The unexplained insistence that this is not true leaves me feeling rather cold. 

Any explanation you can give will be most welcomed.

Regards,

Victor Fries

This is something that can confuse a lot of students, Mr. Fries. Let's see if I can shed some light on the subject. You see, when you are adding two negative numbers, the answer is going to be even more negative. You're going to get a larger negative number, or a "bigger hole in the ground".

Let's look at an example:

Here, you're starting off with a one-foot hold in the ground. What are you adding to it? You're adding another one foot hole onto it. Therefore, you're going to end up...

...two feet down! -2.

Here's another one:

This time we're starting off fifteen feet down. This time, we adding another thirteen feet to the hole. Dig dig dig, and where do you end up?

Twenty-eight feet down! -28.

All you're doing is adding up negative space, which just creates more negative space.

Adding negative numbers isn't too difficult if you can just learn that little thing. The trouble comes from keeping everything straight when it comes to adding and subtracting the different kinds of positive and negative integers, I know. But hopefully this won't cause you too many problems from now on.