It is well known that negative values are “bad” and should be avoided. But this blog post will tell you why, despite what you have always been told, negative values are actually not bad – as long as they’re used in a specific situation. Everyone knows that 1/2 can’t be defined — but what about 0.16?Assign negativecntr with the number of negative values in the linked list.?
Negative values are often discussed in the context of school mathematics or business math (such as percentages). However, these people often neglect to mention that an undefined value can actually still be used in certain situations. For example: The temperature at which water freezes – zero degrees Celsius.
1. When input values for algebraic functions are limited to positive values only.
a) Example 1: A bank clerk has to deposit a total of $50 in two different savings accounts by the end of the day. If the deposit amounts were $20 and $30, respectively, what is the least amount that he could have deposited in each account?
b) Example 2: A farmer plants seeds on his farm in four different fields: apples, corn, peach trees and beets. If each field receives a total of 100 seeds to plant, how many apples would he grow?
c) Example 3: A supermarket receives 10 boxes of apples every week (each box containing 20 apples). If the supermarket received 10 boxes of corn last week, how many boxes of apples will they receive this week?
d) Example 4: A book store only receives 20 books every month. If there are 100 books in a box (each book being an additional $3), how much money must be paid to have that book store send that box of books to a customer?
2. When defining an unknown value by its relationship with other values or by the equation involving it.
Most advanced mathematics use undefined variables (or negative numbers) for certain equations that rely heavily on certain relationships between other values or variables.
a) Example 1: A large factory has a total of 60 employees. If 3 more employees are hired, how many more people will be working in the factory? If 4 fewer employees are fired, how many fewer people will be working in the factory?
b) Example 2: A sports player wins a game by an average of 50 points (or loses by -50 points).
c) Example 3: A company has a total of 12 cars. Every 6 months, it sells 1/3 of its cars and replaces them with new ones. If it sells 4 cars every 6 months, how many years will it take for the company to sell all its cars?
d) Example 4: A university has a total of 10 students. If 5 more students are added, how many more will be in the university? If 5 fewer students are dropped, how many fewer will be in the university?
e) Example 5: A company has a total of 100 employees. Out of those employees, 60 are male and 40 are female. If 3 female employees are hired, how many male employees will remain?
f) Example 6: A company has a total of 100 employees. For every 6 new employees they hire, they are required to fire 1 employee and hire 1 new employee. If 5 new hires are made, how many of the existing employees will be left?
g) Example 7: You buy a house for $100,000. Five years later you want to sell it for $150,000. How much money will you save by selling that house instead of keeping it?
3. When calculating an unknown value through an equation involving it and other values or variables (which were already defined).
a) Example 1: The average temperature for a month is a constant = 18 degrees Celsius. If the weather is -5 degrees Celsius, how many degrees colder will it be in that month?
b) Example 2: A company has two percentages. The first one, which represents the percentage of employees who are male (50%), is 4 percent higher than the second percentage that represents the average salary of their employees (78%). If 10 additional male employees are hired, how much would their salaries increase?
c) Example 3: An electrical engineer can calculate an unknown value through an equation involving three known values. What is that value?
d) Example 4: A company has two other numbers (both expressed as percentages). The first one, which represents the percentage of employees who are male (50%), is 100% more than the second number that represents the average salary of their employees (78%). If 10 additional male employees are hired, how much would their salaries increase?
4. When questions pertaining to undefined quantities already appear in your textbook or class notes.
These problems often appear as a result of a lack of knowledge.
Example 1: A seismologist wants to calculate the total number of earthquakes that have occurred in your country during the last five years.
