Learning to add with Color Counters

Learning to add Integers with Color CountersBy: Jordan Perry : 

Learning to add Integers with Color CountersBy: Jordan Perry

What are integers? : 

What are integers? Positive and Negative whole numbers. Examples…. {…-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3…}

Adding Integers : 

Adding Integers When adding integers one of the best ways to add is to use the counting method… Counting Method… Where you put negative symbols over positive symbols and they cancel each other out.

For Example : 

For Example How would you solve this problem? -5 + 4

Slide 5: 

Start out with 5 blue (NEG) and 4 green (POS). To be able to add these, we first have to group them together by color. - + - - - - + + +

Slide 6: 

- - - - + + + + -

Slide 7: 

Once they are in groups, then we can move one green over one blue to eliminate them and then get our answer. + + - - - - - + +

Slide 8: 

Now that all of our groups are gone. You can see that our answer is, -1. -

Lets Try Something Else… : 

Lets Try Something Else… How would you add…. 6 + (-3)?

Slide 10: 

+ + + + - + + - - Remember… We have to group our positive and negative numbers first.

Slide 11: 

+ + + + - + + - -

Slide 12: 

+ + + + - + + - - Now, we have to cancel out one positive with one negative.

Slide 13: 

+ + + Now, you can see that when we add 6 + (-3) we get a positive 3.

Lets try something a little harder… : 

Lets try something a little harder… What do you get when you add… 4 + (-4)?

Slide 15: 

+ - - - + + + - What do we have to do…. move everything together.

Slide 16: 

+ - - - + + + - Put one positive and one negative together and they cancel each other out.

Slide 17: 

OH NO! The answer is zero (0). When we add a positive and negative number that are the same, we get zero.

Try adding a negative and a negative… : 

Try adding a negative and a negative… What do you get when you add -3 + - 2?

Slide 19: 

- - - - -

Slide 20: 

- - - - - When adding two negatives, you will always get a negative answer… For this problem -3 + -2 the answer is… -5.

Lets try one more… : 

Lets try one more… What happens when you add 4 + 2?

Slide 22: 

+ + + + + +

Slide 23: 

+ + + + + + When you add two positive numbers, you get a positive number. So, when adding 4 + 2… the answer is 6.

Slide 24: 

When adding integers you can get a positive number, a negative number, or you can get zero. When the bigger number is positive the answer is going to be positive. When the bigger number is negative, the answer is going to be negative. When adding two negative numbers, the answer is going to be negative. When adding the two positive numbers, the answer is going to be positive. When adding a positive number and a negative number that are the same, the answer is going to be zero.