SOLUTION: What is the opposite of a real number?

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A real number (let's say it is positive) is a value that you can represent as a point on a line to the right of the start of the line. The number 7.56, for example, would be

Any positive quantity you can think of will be somewhere on this line.
Now think of negative numbers. They represent quantities that are "missing" or "owing" and are represented by their own number line, but going to the left of the start of the line. The number -7.56, for example would be

Now picture these two line segments placed together. All positive numbers are to the right; all negative numbers are to the left.

These two numbers (+7.56 and -7.56) have a relationship, namely: they each have the same magnitude (the amount 7.56) but they have different signs (one goes to the right and one goes to the left). This means if you take them together (we call this addition) they "cancel out." If you start at the 0 and move to the right 7.56 and then move to the left 7.56 you end up back at 0.
Two numbers with this relationship are called "opposites." Each is the opposite of the other.
Definition: an opposite of a number is the number which, when added to it, equals zero. It is also called the "additive inverse."
So, I ask you, what is the opposite of 2.714? [I hope you say -2.714]