Table of Contents
Is subtracting a negative number the same as adding?
Subtracting a negative number is the same as adding the corresponding positive number.
What is the rule for adding and subtracting negative numbers?
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 if you subtract a negative number from a positive number?
Subtracting a negative number is the same as adding a positive number — that is, go up on the number line. When taking a negative number minus a positive number, drop both minus signs and add the two numbers as if they were both positive; then attach a minus sign to the result.
What is subtracting a negative the same as?
Find out why subtracting a negative number is the same as adding the absolute value of that number.
Why minus of minus is plus?
This is in fact the reason why the negative numbers were introduced: so that each positive number would have an additive inverse. 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.
Why subtracting a negative is equivalent to adding?
Subtracting a number is the same as adding its opposite. 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.
Why does adding two negatives equal 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 2 negative numbers?
If you subtract a negative number, the two negatives combine to make a positive.