what is the additive inverse of 3 ?
Remember that INVERSE implies that you are trying to UNDO what has been done, and that ADDITIVE inverse implies that something was ADDED. So, let's rephrase the question: What would I ADD to undo the ADDITION of THREE? You might say, I wouldn't ADD anything -- I'd subtract!! And you'd be correct -- sorta. Turns out that adding NEGATIVE THREE is the same thing as subtracting THREE. So you SHOULD say that you would ADD NEGATIVE THREE to undo the addition of three: 5 + 3 + -3 5 Notice that you could start with ANY number (not just 5) and add three and then add -3 and still get what you started. So, the additive inverse of three -- the number that you add to undo the addition of three -- is -3.
