Me: Hmmmm
Student: Do you know the answer?
Me: Yes
Student: It's really hard.
Me: I know, right?
Student: It's too hard.
Me: Why is it hard?
Student: ... ... because ... because 56 is bigger...
Me: That does make it tricky.
Student: So you can't do it.
Me: Well, what CAN you do?
Student: the answer must be zero!
Me: How did you get that answer?
Student: ... ... ... ...
Me: What I'm asking is, if you can't take away 56, what DID you take away to get to zero?
Student: Oh....um....54?
Me: Are you asking me or telling me?
Student: Telling.
Me: But, you're not done. You still owe some. So, how many do you still owe?
Student: ... 2.
Me: mmhmm. And in math, when we still owe 2, we write it with a minus sign and call it negative two.
Student: So then, the answer is negative 2.
Me: That's what I got too.
Student: Awesome!
Me: You are.
(Positively swooning over this notation! 54-56=0-2)
