Answer
$6$
Work Step by Step
We start with the given expression: $-16-14+18+21+14-17$
We use the commutative property of addition to rearrange some of the terms in order to make it easier to add: $18-16+14-14+21-17$
We apply the associative property to group terms that are easy to subtract: $(18-16)+(14-14)+(21-17)$
We subtract inside each of the parentheses: $2+0+4$
We add from left to right: $2+4=6$