Symbols:Arithmetic and Algebra/Negative Quantity

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Positive

$-$

A unary operator prepended to a number to indicate that it is negative.

For example:

$-6$

The $\LaTeX$ code for \(-6\) is -6 .


If a number does not have either $+$ or $-$ prepended, it is assumed to be positive by default.


Also see

See:

Symbols:Subtraction
Symbols:Set Difference (Variant)
Symbols:Logical Not (Minus)

for other uses of this symbol.


Historical Note

The use of $-$ sign to indicate a negative quantity first appeared in $1489$ in a work by Johannes Widmann.


Sources