Question

Xavier climbs 9 feet up into an apple tree. What integer represents the direction and how far he will climb to get back down to the ground? What does the integer 0 represent in this situation?

Answer 1

He started climbing 9 feet up into the tree, so we can assume that the initial position is 9ft above the ground.

Then if he wants to get back into the ground, he must "descend" or climb down 9 ft again.

Then the integer is -9 (because he is climbing down now).

In this case, the 0 represents that he does not move.

So the integer 0 is related to: +0ft or -0ft

This means that he climbs up 0ft or down -0ft, which is the same as not moving at all.