source: http://samimath.com/untold-story-negative-numbers/



Some things are counter-intuitive like the experience of Moses with the burning bush, where he noticed that the bush was engulfed in flames but it wasn't burning. He could not help but wonder,"Why is that bush not burnng up?". Likewise, negative numbers seemed counter-intuitive even to the great mathematicians when it was first presented to them. They had wondered,"How can numbers be negative?". We know we can have 3 cows, but how can you have -3 cows?. They had propably thought.

Almost every child finds negative numbers absurd when they are first introduced to them, but as they are drilled harder to their ears, they come to accept them as "truth" - most times, without knowing why. The teachers are ready to make them look stupid if they ever question the reason for the "Almighty" negative numbers. Wikipedia: Fancis Maseres But the truth is that, even great mathematicians used to consider negative numbers as "absurd".

The British Mathematician, Francis Maseres claimed that negative numbers "...darken the very whole doctrines of the equations and make dark of things which are in their nature excessively obvious and simple". Despite the fact that they had first been used by the Chinese in 200 B.C.E, even the great Alexandrian mathematician, Diophantus said in the 4th century, that negative numbers were "absurd".

In the 15th century, the French Mathematician, Nicolas Chuquet also called negative numbers "absurd numbers". So what changed? How did a concept once considered "absurd" become one of the fundamentals of Mathematics?

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The essence of Mathematics
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The history of negative numbers gives an hint on the reason we study math. We don't study to get formulars, no, Math is a language. A language for representing ideas - equations are just interpreting the ideas. Just as we developed number systems to represent the idea of "more" - negative numbers were first developed to represent the idea of debt. In 200 BCE, the Chinese had a number rod system representing positive numbers in red and negative numbers in black,they were used for business. The amount sold was positive and the amount spent was negative.



Despite this, some mathematicians did not accept negative numbers not until Sir John Wallis shed more light on them in the early 18th century.

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John Wallis' number line
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John Wallis Sir John Wallis is credited with giving some meaning to negative numbers by inventing the number line. It was until then that mathemaicians came to fully accept negative numbers.



<b>Other Posts In These Series</b>


Why -1 * -1 has to give us +1 - link: http://samimath.com/1-1-give-us-1/

Operations with negative numbers - link: http://samimath.com/operations-negative-numbers/

Why -1 * -1 equals +1 makes intuitive sense - link: http://samimath.com/1-1-equals-1-makes-intuitive-sense/

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