What is the purpose of arithmetic with signed numbers? What is the most confusing aspect of the process?

1. It helps in representing numbers that are below or above zero.

2. It gets confusing at times, especially when dealing with negative signs because they can look abstract or non-realistic.

Step-by-step explanation:

1. Arithmetic with signed numbers is basically the addition of the positive (+) and negative (-) signs in front of numbers. It helps in providing a basis for evaluating if the number is less than or equal to zero. Number lines serve as a helpful guide where zero is centralized and numbers on the right of zero are positive numbers and numbers on its left are negative numbers.

2. It gets a bit confusing, especially when using negative numbers in real-life examples. For example, it is confusing to say that 'John has -2 books'. It is actually hard to imagine such a case.