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Introduction to Integers
Introduction to Integers — from OpenStax Prealgebra 2e.
Introduction to Integers
At over 29,000 feet, Mount Everest stands as the tallest peak on land. Located along the border of Nepal and China, Mount Everest is also known for its extreme climate. Near the summit, temperatures never rise above freezing. Every year, climbers from around the world brave the extreme conditions in an effort to scale the tremendous height. Only some are successful. Describing the drastic change in elevation the climbers experience and the change in temperatures requires using numbers that extend both above and below zero. In this chapter, we will describe these kinds of numbers and operations using them.
Symbols used here
Both signs at once: x = 3 ± 2 means 5 and 1.
The two sides are different.
Inequalities that allow equality; < and > exclude it.
Equal to the precision shown, not exactly.
The non-negative number whose square (n-th power) is x.
What is left after dividing a by n.
Per hundred: 15% = 15/100.
a for every b; a divided by b.
Questions people ask
Why does the order of operations matter?
Because 2 + 3 × 4 would otherwise be two different numbers. The convention (brackets, exponents, multiplication and division, addition and subtraction) exists so every reader gets the same value from the same expression.
How do I check an arithmetic answer?
Estimate first (round every number and compute roughly), then compare. If the estimate and the exact answer disagree by more than a little, one of them is wrong. The solver shows every operation, so you can find which line went astray.
Why are fractions harder than decimals?
They are not harder, they are more exact: 1/3 is a precise number, 0.333 is an approximation. Fractions need a common denominator to add, which is the one extra step people trip on.
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Parts of this page are adapted from OpenStax Prealgebra 2e (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Condensed and re-explained here; errors are ours.