Re: Negative integers

Derek Martin wrote:
Zero is a problem, no matter how you slice it.

I definitely agree with that. Depends on the the real problem that is behind the OP:s question.

Zero can be considered
positive or negative (mathematically, 0 = -0).

I've read quite a few articles written by mathematicians and mathematically oriented engineers, and my impression is that most of them, and therefore me included, use those words with the following meaning:

Positive: >0
Negative: <0

When zero is to be included, the following terms are used:

Non-negative: >=0
Non-positive: <=0

Using this convention, zero is neither positive nor negative. Wikipedia seems to agree with that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_number

/MiO
.

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