Question

The football team gained 14 yards on the first play, then the lost 20 yeards on second play. what was the total change in yards for the team

Answer 1

We can calculate the net yard as adding the two events in respect to the same reference value.

The first event is gaining 14 yards, so we have a=14.

The second event is losing 20 yards, which according to our reference is a negative value: b=-20.

Then, we can calculate the net effect as:

$N=a+b=14+(-20)=14-20=-6$

This correspond, as it has a negative value, to a loss of 6 yards.

Answer: the total change is 6 yards lost.