---
title: "Positive and Negative Numbers"
description: "Understand positive and negative numbers as describing quantities with opposite directions or values; use them in context such as temperature, floors in a building, and bank balances"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/positive-and-negative-numbers-mt_9QzSnn8m80
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/positive-and-negative-numbers-mt_9QzSnn8m80.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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# Positive and Negative Numbers

Understand positive and negative numbers as describing quantities with opposite directions or values; use them in context such as temperature, floors in a building, and bank balances

Subject: Mathematics · Area: Addition & Subtraction · Ages 11 to 13
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/positive-and-negative-numbers-mt_9QzSnn8m80

## Ready when they can

- Represent positive and negative numbers on a number line and explain what zero means in context
- Add a positive or negative number to any integer using number line reasoning
- Subtract a positive or negative number from any integer, understanding that subtracting a negative is equivalent to adding

## Lesson: Positive and Negative Numbers

You already know how to read a thermometer, so you have a head start here. Numbers can go two directions from zero. Positive numbers sit above zero, like +5. Negative numbers sit below zero, like -3. Zero itself is the starting point that everything else is measured from. Walk up the line to add and down it to take away. Taking away a negative turns you back up: 5 - (-10) is the same as 5 + 10.

*(drawing: The temperature line jumps from -3°C to +5°C, a rise of 8 degrees.)*

**Example.** A parking garage floor is labeled -2. The lobby is floor 0. The offices are on floor 3. Traveling from the parking garage to the offices means going up 5 floors: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3.

**Tip.** Subtracting a negative number acts like adding. If you take away a $10 debt, you end up $10 richer. That is why 5 - (-10) gives the same answer as 5 + 10.

**Recap.** Positive numbers sit above zero, negative numbers sit below zero, and subtracting a negative number is the same as adding a positive one.

## Practice

14 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Adding and subtracting (age 10+)](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/adding-and-subtracting-age-10-mt_M1tnXqmYbn)
- [Negative Numbers Across Zero](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/negative-numbers-across-zero-mt_RVK655t391)

## Opens up

- [Place value for decimals, measures and integers](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/place-value-for-decimals-measures-and-integers-mt_PsylzZ9lHW)
- [Adding and Subtracting Negative Numbers](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/adding-and-subtracting-negative-numbers-mt_qX7X7uMzsY)
- [Absolute value as distance from zero](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/absolute-value-as-distance-from-zero-mt_RWUY7_IXvw)
- [Sign Rules for Multiplication and Division](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/sign-rules-for-multiplication-and-division-mt_rxInpOQ74w)
- [Order integers, decimals and fractions on a number line](https://lightmysky.com/learn/mathematics/order-integers-decimals-and-fractions-on-a-number-line-mt_uDJY0X0hgo)