Example Problem - Adding and Subtracting Positive and Negative numbers

-8 + (-3)

Step 0 - Are there any double negatives?
        Yes            No

Step 1a - What is the sign of the left term?
        Negative            Positive

Step 1b - What is the sign of the right term?
        Negative            Positive

Step 1c - Are those the same signs or different signs?
        Same signs, so we will add the values                Different signs, so we will subtract the values

Step 2a - Which number is bigger?//doesn't really matter for this problem
        The first number, - 8                                    The second number, -3

Step 2b - Add the values. What is 8+3?
        11                                                                           5

Step 3 - Take the sign of the bigger number. What is our final answer?
        11                                                                            -11

That is correct. The answer is -11