How do you multiply $4 \cdot - 3$ $4*-3$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2016-06-24T01:10:08

The $- 3$ $-3$ can be written as $(- 1) (3)$ $(-1)(3)$ and so can be seen as a multiplication. Multiply by 4 and get $- 12$ $-12$ .

Let's break down the expression a little:

The original is:

$4 \cdot - 3$ $4*-3$

What we have here is a 4 and it's multiplying $- 3$ $-3$ . And $- 3$ $-3$ is $- 1$ $-1$ times 3. So we can rewrite this to say:

$4 \cdot (- 1) \cdot 3$ $4*(-1)*3$

We can do the multiplication in whichever order we'd like - I'll multiply the positive numbers first, then multiply by the negative:

$4 \cdot 3 \cdot (- 1) = 12 \cdot (- 1) = - 12$ $4*3*(-1)=12*(-1)=-12$

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