Allen is showing his work in simplifying –8.3 + 9.2 – 4.4 + 3.7. Identify and explain any errors in his work or in his reasoning

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Allen is showing his work in simplifying –8.3 + 9.2 – 4.4 + 3.7. Identify and explain any errors in his work or in his reasoning

. Write feedback to Allen explaining the mistake he made and how to correct his work. Step Work Reasoning −8.3 + 9.2 − 4.4 + 3.7 Original problem 1 −8.3 + 9.2 + 4.4 + 3.7 Additive inverse 2 −8.3 + 4.4 + 9.2 + 3.7 Commutative property 3 −8.3 + (4.4 + 9.2 + 3.7) Associative property 4 −8.3 + 17.3 Simplify 5 9 Simplify
Please I am very confused

Mathematics

2 answers:

PIT_PIT [9.1K] · Answer 1 · 2026-02-18T12:22:36+03:00

Let's simplify the expression –8.3 + 9.2 – 4.4 + 3.7 step-by-step.

Allen made a mistake in step 2 by writing −8.3 + 4.4 + 9.2 + 3.7 and calling it the additive inverse. This is incorrect because additive inverse means adding a number's opposite to get zero (for example, +3 and –3 add to zero), which did not happen here.

Although he applied the commutative property in step 3 correctly by rearranging terms as −8.3 + (4.4 + 9.2 + 3.7), his earlier error affects the overall solution.

He combined the numbers inside the parentheses correctly in step 4, resulting in −8.3 + 17.3, and simplified this sum in step 5 to get 9.

The proper approach is first to combine the negative terms (−8.3 − 4.4) and the positive terms (9.2 + 3.7) separately, then add the results. Following this will avoid confusion and lead to the accurate answer.

Zina [9.1K] · Answer 2 · 2026-02-18T12:23:26+03:00

Hello,

The original expression is –8.3 + 9.2 – 4.4 + 3.7.

Step 1 shows −8.3 + 9.2 + 4.4 + 3.7, indicated as additive inverse, but this is actually a mistake.

In step 2, he rearranged the terms to −8.3 + 4.4 + 9.2 + 3.7 using the commutative property.

Step 3 simplifies further to −8.3 + (4.4 + 9.2 + 3.7) by the associative property.

Step 4 calculates the sum inside the parentheses to get −8.3 + 17.3.

Allen’s error was not grouping the negative and positive numbers separately before adding.

I hope this clarifies things! :)