Negative numbers are any number less
than zero. Imagining something less than
zero can be difficult.
Suppose you have a bowl of oranges and
someone takes them away until you have
zero left. When there's nothing it's hard
to imagine being able to take away more;
however, there are instances in real life
where we use numbers less than zero. For
example, did you know the average
temperatures at the top of Mount Everest
range from negative 19 degrees Celsius
to negative 36 degrees Celsius?
Wow, that's cold. Negative numbers also
appear in finances to show debt.
Suppose you have $50 in your
bank account, but then you accidentally
spend $60. Your account balance is now
negative $10.
This means you owe the bank $10. To understand this more,
let's look at a number line. For every
positive number, there is a negative
number. Negative numbers can also be
thought of as the opposite of a positive
number, so the opposite of 5 is negative
5. You might also notice that as we go
further down the number line the
negative numbers appear to get larger.
However, the numbers are really getting
smaller.
For example, negative 10 is smaller than
negative 5.
This can be confusing, but think about it
in terms of temperature.
Suppose on a winter's day it's negative
25 degrees Celsius in Barrow, Alaska, and
negative 35 degrees Celsius in Stanley,
Idaho. Stanley would be colder than Barrow
because negative 35 is lower than
negative 25. Now you know the basics of
negative numbers.