Question

Aaron claims the same answer could also be found by adding either –5 + 3 or –3 + 5.

What is the error in Aaron’s reasoning?

Answer 1

Explanation:

-5 + 3 = -2 -5 is larger

5 + (-3) = 2 5 is larger

2 is larger than -2

Answer 2

The negative signs were switched.

Explanation:

Aaron claims the same answer could also be found by adding either –5 + 3 or –3 + 5.

What is the error in Aaron’s reasoning?

The commutative property is not true for addition.

The negative signs were switched.

The numbers are not in the correct order.

The associative property was used.