Year 3 Maths: Understanding Positive & Negative Numbers

Rules of Signs

• Positive numbers (+) are above zero.
• Negative numbers (−) are below zero.
• Independent learning: identify positive and negative numbers in real-life examples (temperature, money, elevation).

Examples: +5°C (warm), −3°C (cold); +£10 (you have), −£3 (you owe)

Rules:

• Adding two positives → bigger positive
• Adding two negatives → bigger negative
• Adding positive + negative → subtract smaller from bigger, keep sign of bigger number