AI Tutor
Imagine playing a game where you lose 22 points every time you touch a spike. What happens to your score if you hit 33 spikes in a row?

Losing Points Repeatedly

Each spike gives you −2-2 points. Touching 3 spikes means you add that loss 3 times: (−2)+(−2)+(−2)(-2) + (-2) + (-2).
How can we write this fast addition as a multiplication problem?

Multiplication is Grouping

Multiplication is a shortcut for adding equal groups. So 3×(−2)3 \times (-2) means 3 groups of −2-2.
Does this work every single time you multiply a positive number and a negative number?

The Step-Down Pattern

Look at what happens when we count down by groups of 33. Each time the multiplier drops by 1, the total drops by 33.
Whenever you multiply a positive number by a negative number, your product is always negative.