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Using Directed Numbers for Division and Multiplication

If you face the bike towards your friend’s house, that’s positive, and pedaled backwards, which would be negative, you’d end up going the other way, wouldn’t you? You’d end up further away from your friend’s place, which is a negative result. A positive number times a negative number gets a negative result. And if you faced the bike the wrong way, negative, and pedaled forwards, positive, you’d still be going the wrong way, another negative result. A negative number times a positive number gives a negative answer. See if you can work out what would happen if you started with two negatives. Turn your imaginary bike around the wrong way, facing away from your friend’s house, and now, start pedaling backwards. What happens? Are you making any positive progress towards your friend’s house? Yes you are. Your two negatives have produced a positive result, and that’s exactly how it works with numbers. If you multiple two negative numbers together, you get a positive number as a result. The rules for division are exactly the same. That’s right, if you divide two numbers that have the same sign, you get a positive answer.

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