Signed numbersMain article: Sign (mathematics) In the context of negative numbers, a number that is greater than zero is referred

to as positive. Thus every real number other than zero is either positive or negative, while zero itself is not considered to have a sign. Positive numbers are sometimes written with a plus sign in front, e.g. +3 would denote a positive three. Because zero is neither positive nor negative, the term non-negative is sometimes used to refer to a number that is either positive or zero, while non-positive is used to refer to a number that is either negative or zero. [edit] Arithmetic involving negative numbersThe minus sign " " is used for both the operation of subtraction and to signify that a number is negative. The ambiguity does not generally cause problems in arithmetic, as the result of adding a negative

number to another is the same as subtracting the number. A negative number may be parenthesised with its sign, e.g. an addition is clearer if written 7 + ( 5) rather than 7 + 5, and gives the same result as the subtraction 7 5. Sometimes in elementary schools a number may be prefixed by a superscript minus sign or plus sign to explicitly distinguish negative and positive numbers as in[3] 2 + 5 gives 7. [edit] Addition A visual representation of the addition of positive and negative numbers. Larger balls represent numbers with greater magnitude.Addition of two negative numbers is very similar to addition of two positive numbers. For example, ( 3) + ( 5) = 8.

When adding together a mixture of positive of negative numbers, one can think of the negative numbers as positive quantities as being subtracted. For example: 8 + ( 3) = 8 3 = 5 and ( 2) + 7 = 7 2 = 5. In the first example, a credit of 8 is combined with a debt of 3, which yields a total credit of 5. If the negative number has greater magnitude, then the result is negative:

( 8) + 3 = 3 8 = 5 and 2 + ( 7) = 2 7 = 5. Here the credit is less than the debt, so the net result is a debt.

The idea is that two debts can be combined into a single debt of greater magnitude.

[edit] SubtractionAs discussed above, it is possible for the subtraction of two nonnegative numbers to yield a negative answer: 5 8 = 3

In general, subtraction of a positive number is the same thing as addition of a negative. Thus 5 8 = 5 + ( 8) = and ( 3) 5 = ( 3) + ( 5) = 8 On the other hand, subtracting a negative number is the same as adding a positive. (The idea is that losing a debt is the same thing as gaining a credit.) Thus 3 ( 5) = 3 + 5 = 8 and ( 5) ( 8) = ( 5) + 8 = 3. [edit] MultiplicationWhen multiplying numbers, the magnitude of the product is always just the product of the two magnitudes. The sign of the product is determined by the following rules: The product of one positive number and one negative number is negative. 3

The product of two negative numbers is positive. Thus ( 2) 3 = and ( 2) ( 3) = 6. The reason behind the first example is simple: adding three 2's together yields 6: ( 2) 3 = ( 2) + ( 2) + ( 2) = -6. The reasoning behind the second example is more complicated. The idea again is that losing a debt is the same thing as gaining a credit. In this case, losing two debts of three each is the same as gaining a credit of six: ( 2 debts ) ( 3 each) = +6 credit. The convention that a product of two negative numbers is positive is also necessary for multiplication to follow the distributive law. In this case, we know that 6

( 2) ( 3) + 2 ( 3) = ( 2 + 2) ( 3) = 0 ( 3) = 0. Since 2 ( 3) = 6, the product ( 2) ( 3) must equal 6. These rules lead to another (equivalent) rule the sign of any product a b depends on the sign of a as follows: if a is positive, then the sign of a b is the same as the sign of b, and if a is negative, then the sign of a b is the opposite of the sign of b. [edit] DivisionThe sign rules for division are the same as for multiplication. For example, 8 ( 2) = 4,