By defnition, a Negative number is a number that is less than zero, and a Positive number is a number greater than zero.
Notice the following subtraction:
[tex]-2-(-8)[/tex]According to the Sign rules for multiplication:
[tex]\begin{gathered} (+)(+)=+ \\ (-)(-)=+ \\ (-)(+)=- \end{gathered}[/tex]Then:
[tex]-2-(-8)=-2+8=6[/tex]As you can see, subtracting a negative number (like -8) is like adding a positive one (this would be 8).
When you subtract a negative number, you are actually moving to the right on a Number line:
As you can see, you move 8 unis to the right when you subtract -8 from -2, so its like adding a positive 8.
The answer is: Subtracting a negative number is like adding a positive one, because when we subtract a negative number we are actually moving to the right on a Number like. For example:
[tex]-2-(8)=-2+8=6[/tex](See the picture of the Number line attached above. It's not drawn to scale)
