Question

The positions of two divers from the water's surface after a dive are shown:

Yong: −15 feet
Maurine: − 12 feet

Which inequality explains why Maurine is closer to the surface than Yong?

Because −12 < −15, so −12 is closer to 0 than −15
Because −12 > −15, so −12 is closer to 0 than −15
Because −12 < −15, so −12 is farther from 0 than −15
Because −12 > −15, so −12 is farther from 0 than −15

Answer 1

choice 2
-12 is greater than -15
therefor if you put it on a number line it is closer to 0

Answer 2

Answer:

Because −12 > −15, so −12 is closer to 0 than −15

Step-by-step explanation:

First, we need to understand the concept of inequality, as expressed by name, it is the relation of two values which are not equal.

Now, if you consider all the options given in the question, we can eliminate all wrong options on the basic of simple logic. But before applying that logic, we need to determine that which number is greater, -12 or -15. Considering '0' as the surface of water,

If you take two positive numbers 12 and 15, it is easy to tell that 15>12. But remember, that for values lower than zero, i.e the negative values, the relation is inverse.

If we create numbers on a line in order from higher to lower

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3 . . . . .(A)

we can see that, after zero, even the magnitude of number is growing, but the negative sign is making it smaller.

So, we can understand from this that

-12 > -15

Now all options which contains -15 as greater than -12 are eliminated.

So we are left with option 2 and option 4.

Since option 4 says that -12 is farther from 0 as compared to -15 it is also wrong, because if you continue (A), you will see that -12 will come before -15, so -12 is nearer to 0 as compared to -15. Here we can say that only option 2 is the right answer.