why are the positive numbers on the right side of the number line ?

Question

the number line for kindergartners has positive numbers going to the right of 0 and negative numbers to the left ..... why are the negative numbers on the left and the positive ones on the right ? because it really would not change anything if they interchanged places .... why aren't the negative numbers on the right and the positive ones on the left ... ?

i mean , why is it .....-5 , -4 , -3 , -2 , -1 , 0 , 1 , 2 ,3 , 4 , 5 ..... why not ......5 , 4 , 3 , 2 ,1 ,0 ,-1 ,-2 ,-3 ,-4 ,-5 .... ? ..... i'm only 13 so forgive me if you think this is a stupid question ..

Answer 1

mostly out of tradition,
but when we list out the numbers it just makes sense to start with
0, 1, 2, 3, ..... and keep going until you get tired
but imagine trying to start with an arbitrary number and counting down:
....what would happen if you need to start with a larger number than you did, you would have to count up to it

Answer 2

In most countries, you read from left to right. It's the same with numbers. The numbers go from left to right, and increases as it goes. If you were reading a number line backwards, you would read it as 2, 1, 0, -1, etc. That wouldn't really make sense.

Answer 3

It is called orientation.
and it is conventional.
You can turn and observe the line from the other side and you can see the negatives are to the right!

The same situation is for clockwise and counterclock wise orientations in 2 dimensions or left and right hand symmetry in 3 dimensions.

There exist non orientable spaces like the mobius strip. But if a space is orientable the it has two different orientations named left and right.

Answer 4

Perhaps it's just a force of habit by the pioneers who were the first one to demonstrate it that way and became a common practice. Either way of demonstrating is understandable, even if the demo is done from above to below or vice-versa. Do it in the way that fits you—east to west, west to east, north to south, south to north; it's your choice. On my part, I won't question it in whichever way one does.

Answer 5

it's just a rule in math and even physics that when something is on the left or down in physics, it's negative. and when on the right, it's always positiive.

Answer 6

take it as follows;
scientists agreed that this is the rite way to do it.it does not harm u to agree with that and accept it.