Division of Negative and Positive Integers

Division of Integers is similar to division of whole numbers (both positive) except the sign of the quotient needs to be determined.

If both the dividend and divisor are positive, the quotient will be positive.
(+16) ÷ (+4) = +4

If both the dividend and divisor are negative, the quotient will be positive.
(-16) ÷ (-4) = +4

If only one of the dividend or divisor is negative, the quotient will be negative.
(+16) ÷ (-4) = -4     or      (-16) ÷ (+4) = -4

In other words, if the signs are the same the quotient will be positive, if they are different, the quotient will be negative.







What is the Quotient?

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