You sometimes hear negative numbers on the weather forecast when it is absolutely FREEZING in winter, so Phil and Julie are here to tell us more in this edition of Maths Matters.
Listen to the show at the top of the article and have a look at what Julie says below...
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0….. Blast Off!
Or not… let's keep going instead: -1, -2, -3, -4, -5!
These numbers are negative numbers. Not because they're sad, but because they are below zero.
If you draw a line from the top of the page to the bottom, and put a zero in the middle. Then as you go up the line, the numbers are positive numbers. 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on.
And as you go down the page, below the zero mark, the numbers become negative, -1, -2, -3, -4… and so on.
In the same way, if a positive number is a distance to the right, then a negative number is a distance to the left.
And if a positive number represents a minutes into the future, then a negative number would be some time in the past.
In this episode we explore different ways that negative numbers are used in real life, from elevators to how far you go underwater! Also, why not tune in to learn how to do some maths with negative numbers.
Catch ALL the series so far along with Julie's articles here!
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