Question

elva monitors her savings account online. on monday she withdraws money, and the change to her account balance is $-51.25$. on tuesday she deposits money and the change to her balance is $+39.50$. she wants to know the total change in her account after the two transactions.
you found that the total change in elvas account balance is about $-10$.
what is the exact change to elvas account balance, in dollars?
$-51.25 + 39.50 = -11.75$
complete the statement to describe how elvas account balance changed.
elvas account balance? by $11.75$.

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze the total change calculation

The total change is calculated as \(-51.25 + 39.50\). When adding a negative number and a positive number, we can think of it as subtracting the smaller absolute value from the larger absolute value and taking the sign of the number with the larger absolute value. The absolute value of \(-51.25\) is \(51.25\) and the absolute value of \(39.50\) is \(39.50\). Since \(51.25>39.50\), we subtract \(39.50\) from \(51.25\): \(51.25 - 39.50 = 11.75\), and since the number with the larger absolute value (\(-51.25\)) is negative, the result is \(-11.75\).

Step2: Determine the change description

A negative total change means the account balance decreased. So we need to find a word that describes a decrease. The word "decreased" fits here because the total change is \(-11.75\), indicating a reduction in the account balance by \(\$11.75\).

Answer:

Elva's account balance decreased by \$11.75. So the word to fill in the blank is "decreased".