In math, we can have a number less than zero, but in real life there is no such thing as less than nothing.?

Answer 1

yes your right.

Answer 2

Yeah, and not only that, there is no such thing as nothing. For if there were, then nothing would be something, and something can't be nothing!

The Romans understood this. Notice that there's no Year Zero, and the years B.C. (or B.C.E., to be PC), are not -1, -2, -3, and so on, but 1 BC, 2 BC, 3 BC, etc.

Actually this has to do with the so-called "natural numbers" (1, 2, 3, ...) or "counting numbers", as opposed to "whole numbers" or "integers". The number "-5", for example, is an integer, but it is not a natural (counting) number.

I forgot who invented the number zero (0), but it was relatively late in the scheme of things. Originally, I think, it was a "placeholder", so the number 307 means three hundreds, no tens, and seven ones or units. We can write that as 3 x 100 + 0 x 10 + 7 x 1, but the Romans wrote CCCVII. Nothing in there for the zero.

Answer 3

Sure there is. Try overdrawing your bank account.

I like the way I heard Donald Trump put it. Mr. Trump was billions of dollars in debt. He was walking down the street one day with one of his children and they saw a homeless man who owned nothing. His child looked at the homeless man and said "don't you feel sorry for him?" To which Mr. Trump replied "Well, he is billions of dollars richer than I am."

There are multiple other situations where you also use numbers less than zero. How about feet below sea level, or the temperature on a very cold day?

Answer 4

Well, if that is the case you are rich and have never taken out a mortgate, car loan, or had a cridt card balance.

Very vew people are able to do so.

Congratulations to you since you can do so.

You are almost certainly talented and have abilities others don't.

I'd consider myself lucky if I were in your shoes. But, sometimes luck doesn't have anything to do with anything: just hard work!

Congratulations for your good fortune! Regardless of why you have it, it is something to be appreciated in this day and age.

Answer 5

When force or friction is acting against your movement or acceleration it can be expressed as a negative number in your calculation. For instance, if you're calculating miles per gallon in an aircraft, you would factor in the headwind. Negative numbers are a way of doing that. This is merely one of many examples.

Answer 6

Having less than nothing is the same as taking away something. Hence, the equivalence of negative numbers and subtraction.

4 - 2 = 2

This is the same as:

4 + (-2) = 2

If you have 4 items, and you take away two of them, you have two remaining.

Answer 7

You can have a dept = - possess.
The temperature can be below zero.
You are at the third floor. You go down 5 levels. You come in the second cellar which is floor -2..

Answer 8

what about when you're in debt. You have nothing, PLUS you still have to give someone something. That's less than nothing. and zero is neutral.

Answer 9

That's because numbers have broader applications than just counting things.

Answer 10

I bet you there were no negative numbers until someone had a collections account.

Answer 11

Correct. But then you get into Neg. and thats below zero....