Challenging Questions!!!!!

[Davey_Jones]

Hassan
Boat
Multiplication and division

Easy questions are easy

 

[XMAS_Poo]

He is right you know. You can not show me -2 apples.

I can if I take 2 from you

 

[It_Burns_When_I_PVP]

He is right you know. You can not show me -2 apples.

It is incorrect of him to say that negatives don't exist. Deceleration (proper term negative acceleration) is another negative that can be seen happening. Then as stated, negative temperatures. Negatives in programming. Etc.

You are misunderstanding. Representations of scale (deceleration, lowering temperature, weight gain or loss) are not what is being discussed. To say I lost 10 pounds is a true statement. But you cannot physically show me anything that is -10 pounds. You might find something that weighs zero pounds (in space easily since weight is a measurement of the effect of gravity on an object) but you cannot every show me something that weighs less than nothing.

The same holds for temperature. The zero on a scale is a reference point that usually refers to the changing point in the state of a given subject. We'd be most familiar with temp gauges that reference the freezing point of water. In the centigrade scale that is 0 degrees. In Fahrenheit that would be 32 degrees. That right there should tell you something about negative numbers on a thermometer.

So if the temp is -10 degrees what we are saying is that the temp is 10 degrees less than the freezing point of water. We are NOT saying that there is NO temperature at all. Temperature is really a measurement of the movement of atoms. When all atoms stop moving within a substance that is called "Absolute Zero" degrees. You cannot have less than that. There is no such thing as less than zero movement. You can't have negative movement. On a line negative movement is simply movement in the opposite direction of the reference point.

Now as to computing. Yes you can use negative numbers and get results. Negative numbers are clearly important to math, science, computer programming, economics, accounting, etc. etc. etc. But the fact still remains that all those negative numbers are representations of an abstract concept that YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONCRETELY REPRESENT IN THE REAL WORLD.

Look, I can write the word "Pegasus" but it doesn't mean one exists. Similarly I can write -100 but I will never be able to put negative 100 anything on the table for you to count.

again, this is not true. Negative is simply a concept to denote something lower or less than an arbitrarily decided upon zero point on a scale. One could argue that a balloon has a negative weight when considered as a system and filled with a gas that is lighter than the air around it and causes a force that counteracts and is greater than the earths pull on it. I think you mean negative mass cannot be physically demonstrated, as negative "weight" of a body easily can.