Answer
$8$
Work Step by Step
We can find the sum of a positive and a negative integer by subtracting the number with the smaller absolute value from the number with the larger absolute value and giving the result the sign of the original number that has the larger absolute value.
Since $|17|>|-9|$, we subtract $17-9$ to get $8$. Since the original $17$ was positive, we keep the positive sign, giving us an answer of $8$
