Lesson 3
Negative Numbers
Real values of less than nothing
Page 95
We have seen that we would arrive at the result
b − 1 by applying our division rule o the problem
(b2)/(b3), so we can write
b − 1 = (b2)/(b3)
and then we can write out
b2 and
b3 fully to see what
b − 1 should mean:
b − 1 = (b2)/(b3) = (b × b)/(b × b × b) = (b × b)/(b × b × b) = ?
Now, when we cancel factors in the last step shown at the right, we don’t leave zeros. Remember your basic arithmetic:
(2)/(2) = (
1
2
)/(
2
1
) = (1)/(1), and (3)/(3) = (
1
3
)/(
3
1
) = (1)/(1).
Or, in algebraic form:
(a × b)/(a × b × c) = (
1
1
a
×
b
)/(
a
×
b
×
c
1
1
) = (1)/(c).
Well, similarly,
b − 1 = (
1
1
b
×
b
)/(
b
×
b
×
b
1
1
) = (1)/(b).
Now return to Page 101 and try again.
