7th grade · Math · Unit 2 of 22
Multiply & Divide Signed Numbers
Sign rules
What your child practices
Multiplying and dividing positive and negative numbers (including fractions), using the sign rules, and real-world changes such as falling temperatures.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 7.3(A); 7.3(B) · multiplying and dividing rational numbers, including negative numbers
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Multiply or divide the numbers as usual.
- Same signs give a positive answer.
- Different signs give a negative answer.
Example: What is −6 × 4? 6 × 4 = 24. Different signs: negative. Answer: −24
Multiply & Divide Signed Numbers in Texas
In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 2 of 22 in 7th grade Math, after Add & Subtract Integers and before Fractions.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
The temperature falls 2 degrees every hour for 8 hours. What is the total change in temperature, in degrees? (Use a negative number for a fall.)
answer box
-16
Hint: 8 × (−2) = −16.
Question 2
What is −77 ÷ 7?
−77 ÷ 7 = ?
answer box
-11
Hint: Divide the sizes, then use the sign rule: same signs positive, different signs negative.
Question 3
A change of −$4 is shared equally by 2 friends. What is each friend's change, in dollars?
answer box
-2
Hint: −4 ÷ 2 = −2.
Question 4
Without multiplying: is (−2) × 5 × 3 positive or negative?
- Negative
- Positive
Negative
Hint: Count the negative factors. An even number of them gives a positive product; an odd number gives a negative one.
Question 5
What is 1/3 × (−15)?
- -4
- -5
- -45
- 5
-5
Hint: 15 ÷ 3 = 5. One factor is negative, so the answer is negative.
Question 6
What is −1 × 6?
−1 × 6 = ?
answer box
-6
Hint: Multiply the sizes, then use the sign rule: same signs positive, different signs negative.