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Negative number. This thermometer is indicating a negative Fahrenheit temperature (−4 °F). In mathematics, a negative number is the opposite (mathematics) of a positive real number. [1] Equivalently, a negative number is a real number that is less than zero. Negative numbers are often used to represent the magnitude of a loss or deficiency.
The minus sign (−) has three main uses in mathematics: [16] The subtraction operator: a binary operator to indicate the operation of subtraction, as in 5 − 3 = 2. Subtraction is the inverse of addition. [1] The function whose value for any real or complex argument is the additive inverse of that argument.
On scientific calculators, it is usually known as "SCI" display mode. In scientific notation, nonzero numbers are written in the form. or m times ten raised to the power of n, where n is an integer, and the coefficient m is a nonzero real number (usually between 1 and 10 in absolute value, and nearly always written as a terminating decimal).
1. Denotes subtraction and is read as minus; for example, 3 – 2. 2. Denotes the additive inverse and is read as minus, the negative of, or the opposite of; for example, –2. 3. Also used in place of \ for denoting the set-theoretic complement; see \ in § Set theory. × (multiplication sign) 1.
[2] [3] Thus, in the expression 1 + 2 × 3, the multiplication is performed before addition, and the expression has the value 1 + (2 × 3) = 7, and not (1 + 2) × 3 = 9. When exponents were introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries, they were given precedence over both addition and multiplication and placed as a superscript to the right of ...
This attribute of a number, being exclusively either zero (0), positive (+), or negative (−), is called its sign, and is often encoded to the real numbers 0, 1, and −1, respectively (similar to the way the sign function is defined). [1] Since rational and real numbers are also ordered rings (in fact ordered fields), the sign attribute also ...
The plus–minus sign or plus-or-minus sign, ±, is a symbol with multiple meanings. In mathematics, it generally indicates a choice of exactly two possible values, one of which is obtained through addition and the other through subtraction. In statistics and experimental sciences, the sign commonly indicates the confidence interval or ...
Subtraction is an operation that represents removal of objects from a collection. [1] For example, in the adjacent picture, there are 5 − 2 peaches—meaning 5 peaches with 2 taken away, resulting in a total of 3 peaches. Therefore, the difference of 5 and 2 is 3; that is, 5 − 2 = 3.