For the past week in math, we have been learning about multiplying positive and negative numbers as well as learning what indices are.
When you are multiplying and at least one of the numbers are negative you are going to get a negative. If you have two positives you are obviously going to get a positive number but if you multiply a negative by a negative number you are going to get a positive.
What are Indices?
An indices is a small number that you will see sitting above another number. When you see indices this means that you will multiply the number it is above by itself that many times. An example of this is if you had 3^2 you would times 3 by itself twice so 3x3 which would be 9. But if you have -3^2 you would multiply -3x-3 which would give you a positive. If you have got an even number as your indices like 4 even if you have a positive and a negative you are going to end up with a positive number. This is because if you multiply a negative by a negative you get a positive and if you are multiplying a number multiple times it is going to switch between positive and negative answers. All you need to know is if the indices are even it is going to be a positive number and if the indices are odd you are going to end if a negative number. This will only work if you have got one negative in the equation if you have all positives it will always be a positive answer.
