Lesson · Grade 7 · Mathematics
What Are Integers? Numbers Below Zero
- Grade 7
- Mathematics
- 1 min 25 s
- British Columbia
- BC7-MA-06
A thermometer drops from 3 °C to 4 degrees below zero, which is written −4 °C, and its scale is turned on its side to become a number line with positive numbers on the right, negative numbers on the left and zero in the middle. The worked example finds −4 by taking 4 steps left from zero, opposite 4 on the right, then lists the integers, shows that 2.5 is not one, and ends on the recap: integers are the whole numbers, their negatives and zero.
Concept: What integers are: numbers below zero
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
Can a number be less than zero? Let us find out.
This afternoon, the thermometer shows 3 degrees Celsius.
Transcript
What the lesson says
Can a number be less than zero? Let us find out.
This afternoon, the thermometer shows 3 degrees Celsius.
Tonight it gets colder, and the temperature falls to 4 degrees below zero.
We write 4 degrees below zero as negative 4 degrees Celsius.
So a number can be below zero. The minus sign shows that it is negative.
Now lay the scale on its side. It becomes a number line.
Numbers to the right of zero are positive. They are greater than zero.
Numbers to the left of zero are negative. They are less than zero.
Zero is in the middle. It is neither positive nor negative.
Where is negative 4 on the number line?
Start at zero and take 4 steps to the left, to negative 4.
4 is also 4 steps from zero, but to the right. So 4 and negative 4 are opposites.
All of these numbers are integers, and they go on forever in both directions.
A number like 2.5 sits between two integers, so it is not an integer.
Integers are the whole numbers, their negatives, and zero.
Curriculum
Where this fits
- British Columbia, Grade 7
Mathematics, Number: operations with integersBC7-MA-06
Previous: Division facts from multiplication factsNext: Comparing and ordering integers
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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