SOLUTION: Find the sum for the following set of numbers: -3.5, -1.4, -0.5, 3, 5, 1, 2

Find the sum for the following set of numbers:
-3.5, -1.4, -0.5, 3, 5, 1, 2

Find the sum of first two

(-3.5) + (-1.4)

The rule is: They have like signs, so add their absolute values
and attach their common sign.

They are both negative, which means they have the same sign,
so we add 3.5 and 1.4, getting 4.9, and we attach their common
sign, which is "-". So we have -4.9:

Sum of first two = -4.9

-------

Now let's find the sum of that and the 3rd one:


(-4.9) + (-0.5)

The rule is: They have like signs, so add their absolute values
and attach their common sign.

They are both negative, which means they have the same sign,
so we add 4.9 and 0.5, getting 5.4, and we attach their common
sign, which is "-". So we have -5.4:

Sum of first three = -5.4



-------

Now let's find the sum of that and the 4th one:


(-5.4) + (3)

The rule is: They have opposite signs, so subtract their 
absolute values (larger minus smaller) and attach the sign 
with the larger absolute value.

They have opposite signs, so we subtract 3 from 5.4, getting 
2.4, and we attach the sign of -5.4 because its absolute 
value is larger than 3's absolute value, which is "-". 
So we have -2.4:

Sum of first four = -2.4

-------

Now let's find the sum of that and the 5th one:

(-2.4) + (5)

They have opposite signs, so we subtract 2.4 from 5, getting 2.6, and we attach
the sign of 5 because its absolute value is larger than 3's absolute value.
sign, which is "+". So we have +2.6, but we can drop the +:

Sum of first five =  2.6

--------------------------

Now let's find the sum of that and the 6th one:

(2.6) + (1)

The rule is: They have like signs, so add their absolute values
and attach their common sign.

They are both positive, which means they have the same sign,
so we add 2.6 and 1, getting 3.6, and we attach their common
sign, which is "+". So we have +3.6, but we can drop the +:

Sum of first six = 3.6

------

Find the sum of that and the 7th or last one

(3.6) + (2)

The rule is: They have like signs, so add their absolute values
and attach their common sign.

They are both positive, which means they have the same sign,
so we add 3.6 and 2, getting 5.6, and we attach their common
sign, which is "+". So we have +5.6, but we can drop the +:

Sum of them all  = 5.6

Edwin