The Sign Change Rule
Formal statement of the rule.
Key Takeaway
Notice how upon removing the brackets preceded by a negative sign, the signs of the terms inside the brackets change.
Understand that removing brackets preceded by a negative sign flips the signs of all terms inside.
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Formal statement of the rule.
Notice how upon removing the brackets preceded by a negative sign, the signs of the terms inside the brackets change.
Introduction to the rule for removing negative brackets.
Let us find the value of this expression:
When evaluating an expression with brackets, we typically find the value inside first.
Inside the bracket, .
Then we subtract it from 200:
Image of the window border gap example.

When subtracting parts from a whole, subtracting the sum of the parts is identical to subtracting each part sequentially.
Worked example applying the sign change rule to a real scenario.
Irfan spent ₹15 on a biscuit packet and ₹56 on toor dal. He gave ₹100 to the shopkeeper. Write an expression that can help calculate the change he will get back, and evaluate it by removing brackets.
Faded practice for removing brackets with inner negatives.
Consider the expression .
First, let's evaluate this expression by calculating the value inside the brackets. Inside the bracket, . So, the expression becomes , which evaluates to .
Now, let's evaluate by removing the brackets directly. Since the brackets are preceded by a negative sign, the signs of the terms inside change. The positive becomes , and the negative becomes a positive .
The sequence of operations is . Evaluating this gives , which is equal to .
MCQ testing the bracket removal rule.
Remove the brackets and choose the expression having the exact same value:
Guided problem balancing equations by resolving brackets.
What are the terms combined after 27 on the right side?
If we place these terms inside a bracket preceded by a negative sign, what happens to their signs?
Write the expression exactly as it would appear inside the parentheses.
Write the complete expression for the left side.
Evaluate both sides of your equation to ensure they produce the same value.