What is 28 minus negative 81?

Here we will not only give you the answer to 28 minus negative 81, but also explain how we got the answer.

Start by picturing a number line that goes to negative infinity on the left side of 0 and positive infinity on the right side of 0:

∞ ..... -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, .... ∞

Looking at the number line above, we can make the following observation:

Adding a positive number goes to the right.
Adding a negative number goes to the left.

Adding and subtracting cannot go in the same direction on a number line. Therefore, this must also be true:

Subtracting a positive number goes to the left.
Subtracting a negative number goes to the right.

Thus, with the problem 28 minus negative 81, we are subtracting a negative number and we go to the right. Specifically, we go from +28 to +109 on the number line.

Here is 28 minus negative 81 in mathematical terms with the answer:

28 - (-81) = 109

You may already know that minus minus equals plus or that 28 minus negative 81 is the same as 28 plus 81, but we hope that this page explained the underlying mathematical reason for the answer.

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What is 28 minus negative 82?
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