What is meant by a negative number?

• A. A number greater than 0.
• B. A number less than 0.
• C. Zero.
• D. A positive decimal.

Answer: (B)

A negative number is a value that sits to the left of zero on the number line. It is defined by being less than zero, with the minus sign indicating a direction opposite to positive numbers. Negative numbers are used to express things like temperatures below freezing or amounts that go below a base value—for example, -5 or -0.5.

Zero is neither positive nor negative, and numbers greater than zero are positive. A positive decimal is still a positive value, not negative. So the statement that best describes a negative number is that it is a number less than zero.