Negative signs in numerators and denominators

The  exercise appears under the 7th grade (U.S.) Math Mission. This exercise practices the idea of "a negative times a negative is positive" in the context of rational numbers.

Types of Problems
There is one type of problem in this exercise:


 * 1) Determine those with the same sign: This problem provides a beginning expression and several other expressions. The student is asked to determine which (if any) of the other expressions would end up having the same sign as the initial expression.Nsinad1.png

Strategies
Knowledge of operations on positive and negative numbers and comfort with word problems are encouraged to ensure success on this exercise.
 * 1) A positive times a positive is positive, and a negative times a negative is positive.
 * 2) A positive times a negative, or vice versa, is negative.
 * 3) The rules for multiplication also apply for division.
 * 4) To increase efficiency, count the negative signs. If odd, result is odd, if negative, result is positive.

Real-life Applications

 * 1) Familiarity with operations on integers will lead into comfort with other more advanced numbers, such as radicals, fractions and even imaginary numbers.
 * 2) These rules also apply in English, as double negative also imply positive statements, which is useful in critical thinking and reading.