Everyone in Alberta pays attention to the temperature, especially in the winter. If you don't dress properly for the weather you could be in serious trouble. Do you recall a particularly cold winter?

Environment Canada rates January and February the two coldest months in Alberta, with average daytime temperatures ranging from –5 to –15  C and normal low nighttime temperatures ranging from –15 to –25  C.

–25 C is cold. That is 25 degrees Celsius below 0. Any number below 0 is a negative number. Negative numbers are shown with a minus (–) sign in front of them. If the next day, it warmed up 10 degrees, the temperature would show –15 C. –15 C is a higher number that –25 C.

When you are dealing with negative numbers, the closer to 0 the number is, the higher it is. This, of course, is the exact opposite of positive numbers where 25 is higher than 15.

Here are more examples.

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Examining temperatures helps us to understand positive and negative numbers, but they are used in many other situations as well.

Positive and negative numbers are called integers. They are shown with a positive or negative sign. Integers are always compared to zero. For example, –3 (3 less than zero) and +4 (4 more than zero).

You can use a number line to represent integers.

Numbers to the LEFT of zero      Numbers to the RIGHT
are negative numbers.                of zero are positive.

You've already seen how integers are used to describe how warm or cold a temperature is.

Integers are also used in sports:

They are also used in banking:

Comparing Positive and Negative Numbers on Number Lines

Let's compare numbers using a number line:

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