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What is the rule for subtracting negative and positive numbers?
Two signs. When adding positive numbers, count to the right. When subtracting positive numbers, count to the left. When subtracting negative numbers, count to the right.
What happens when you have a negative number and a positive number?
Rule 3: Adding negative numbers to positive numbers—count backwards, as if you were subtracting. Now, let’s look at the reverse equation. When you are adding a negative number to a positive number you are effectively subtracting the second number from the first.
Does a minus and a positive make a positive?
If two positive numbers are multiplied together or divided, the answer is positive. If two negative numbers are multiplied together or divided, the answer is positive. If a positive and a negative number are multiplied or divided, the answer is negative.
Why do two negatives make a positive?
Each number has an “additive inverse” associated to it (a sort of “opposite” number), which when added to the original number gives zero. The fact that the product of two negatives is a positive is therefore related to the fact that the inverse of the inverse of a positive number is that positive number back again.
What happens when you subtract a negative number from a negative number?
Rule 3: Subtracting a negative number from a negative number – a minus sign followed by a negative sign, turns the two signs into a plus sign. So, instead of subtracting a negative, you are adding a positive. So we’re changing the two negative signs into a positive, so the equation now becomes -2 + 4.
Why does subtracting a negative number make it positive?
When you add a negative number, you move to the left on the number line. Example 3: So, subtracting a positive number is like adding a negative; you move to the left on the number line. Subtracting a negative number is like adding a positive; you move to the right on the number line.