Here's the secret to adding integers: one positive and one negative added together cancel each other out. 

Think about it like this, if you bonk your sister on the head (a negative), then you give her a hug (a positive), your actions cancel each other out. Neutral. Neither bad nor good. (Don't try this at home!)

Let's try it as pictures:  In this section we will use symbols (+) and (-) to represent each problem. 

For the problem  

Five minuses and seven pluses. Each pair of plusses and minuses cancels out.

There are two + left, representing the answer +2.

Examples:

Using a Number Line to Add Integers

Use the number line below to solve . 

Start at  and jump  places in the positive direction (to the right). You'll land on the answer, .

Look Out: sometimes you may see parentheses around negative numbers. These do not mean that we need to multiply; they are just used so that we don't confuse negatives with subtraction.

Examples

Start at –3. Jump 2 places in the negative direction. You land on the answer, –5.	Start at –4. Jump 3 places in the positive direction. You land on the answer, –1.
Start at +2. Jump 2 places in the negative direction. You land on the answer, 0.	Start at +4. Jump 1 place in the negative direction. You land on the answer, +3.

Remember these rules for addition:

Rule #1: If the signs are the same, add the two numbers together and keep the same sign

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  Since both are negative, the answer is negative.
   
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  Since both are positive, the answer is positive.

Rule #2: If the signs are different, subtract the two numbers and keep the sign of the number with more

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  Since there are 15 negatives and only three positives, our answer will be negative.
   
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  Since there are three negatives and five positives, our answer will be positive.

Adding Integers Practice: