Negative Numbers
Count backwards through zero to include negative numbers
What a learner can do afterwards
- Count backwards from 5 through zero: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, −1, −2 …
- Place negative numbers on a number line
- Understand that negative numbers are less than zero and use them in context (e.g. temperature)
The lesson
You already know how to count forward: 1, 2, 3, and up and up. Numbers can also go the other way, below zero. When you count down past zero, you reach negative numbers. They have a small minus sign in front, like −1, −2, −3.
Mia checks the temperature before bed. It is 2 degrees. Overnight, it drops 5 degrees. She counts back to find the new temperature: 2, 1, 0, −1, −2, −3. The temperature is now −3 degrees, three degrees below zero.
When you count backward, do not skip over zero. After zero comes negative one, then negative two. Zero itself is the middle point, not a negative number.
Negative numbers are less than zero. Keep counting backward through zero to reach them: 2, 1, 0, −1, −2.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.