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Negative number 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. A debt that is owed may be thought of as a negative asset.
You are defining that multiplication of negative numbers follows the rules of a ring. If we had that a times b is 0 if either a or b is negative that would also be consistent with the rules for the multiplication for non-negative numbers. It is because we want the rules for negative numbers to be nicer than that that they are defined the way ...
The inverse operation of multiplication is division. For example, since 4 multiplied by 3 equals 12, 12 divided by 3 equals 4. Indeed, multiplication by 3, followed by division by 3, yields the original number. The division of a number other than 0 by itself equals 1. Several mathematical concepts expand upon the fundamental idea of multiplication.
For example, multiplication is granted a higher precedence than addition, and it has been this way since the introduction of modern algebraic notation. [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.
A multiplication by a negative number can be seen as a change of direction of the vector of magnitude equal to the absolute value of the product of the factors. When multiplying numbers, the magnitude of the product is always just the product of the two magnitudes. The sign of the product is determined by the following rules:
If the multiplicand is a natural number then multiplication is the same as repeated addition, as in = + +. [52] Division is the inverse of multiplication. In it, one number, known as the dividend, is split into several equal parts by another number, known as the divisor.
For example, in the real numbers, the squaring operation only produces non-negative numbers; the codomain is the set of real numbers, but the range is the non-negative numbers. Operations can involve dissimilar objects: a vector can be multiplied by a scalar to form another vector (an operation known as scalar multiplication ), [ 13 ] and the ...
The numbers being multiplied are multiplicands, multipliers, or factors. Multiplication can be expressed as "five times three equals fifteen", "five times three is fifteen" or "fifteen is the product of five and three". Multiplication is represented using the multiplication sign (×), the asterisk (*), parentheses (), or a dot (⋅).