All skills › Year 6 › Counting & Number
Year 6 · Counting & Number
Negative numbers
The sign always opens towards the bigger number: 7 > 3 and 3 < 7.
How to do it
- Count the digits: more digits means bigger.
- Same number of digits: compare the first digit, then the next.
- Point the open side of the sign at the bigger number.
Worked example
−6 ? 3
Further right on the number line is bigger.
−6 < 3
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Watch outThink of the sign as a hungry mouth that eats the bigger number.
Practise Negative numbers properly
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