Q. Negative Signs in Fractions?
It really doesn't matter where you put a negative sign in a fraction. The following are all the same:
The negative sign can go in the numerator, the denominator, or the whole fraction.
Two negatives make a positive. So these fractions:
are all the same as the positive fraction.
What about 3 negatives? Well, two of them make a positive, and that leaves one left over:
Be careful: What I just said works only if the negative sign is on the whole numerator or denominator (not just part of the numerator or denominator) Here are examples:
What about zeros? Any fraction with zero in the numerator is automatically zero, which means it's neither negative nor positive:
(But remember you can't have a zero denominator, no matter what!)
More complicated examples: Keep in mind that the numerator or denominator might be some complicated expression that needs to be simplified first:
