Sometimes, when you take away more than you have, you end up with a number described as negative.

What Does Negative Mean?

A negative number is a way to show that you have less than zero.

Imagine you have 2 apples.
If someone takes 3 apples away, you don’t have enough!
You would need to give 1 more apple than you actually have.

So, 2 minus 3 looks like this:

2 – 3 = ?

How can we think about this?

• Start with 2 apples.
• Take away 2 apples: you have 0 apples now.
• But you still need to take away 1 more apple! 
• So, you are 1 apple short.
• We use a special sign, called the negative sign, to show this: -1

So,

2 – 3 = -1

Real Life Example: The Elevator

Imagine you are standing on the ground floor of a building.

If you go down 1 floor, you are on Floor -1 (the basement).

If you go down 2 floors, you are on Floor -2.

Negative numbers are like floors below zero!

The Negative Sign

A negative number has a little line in front of it, like this:
-1 (pronounced “negative one”)

You might have noticed, the negative sign looks like the subtract sign. That is correct, but their meanings are slightly different. Subtract sign is used to find the difference between two numbers, whereas the negative sign means you’ve gone past zero, or you owe something, or you are below zero.

Quick Check

What is 1 – 4 = ?

•  Start with 1.
• Take away 4.
• You go below zero, and end up at -3.

So,

1 – 4 = -3

Remember

• Negative numbers are just numbers less than zero.
• You see them in real life with things like temperature and elevators.