Negative or Minus?

Hi Magmaf1re,

The negative and minus signs are the same things. In other words, negative five is the same as minus five, which is the same as -5.

If that's not what you meant, please tell me and I'll try to clarify.

One place where one can see a minus sign used as a superscript is in chemistry where it denotes a negative charge on an ion. For example, a positive Sodium ion and a negative Chlorine ion can combine to make a salt molecule.(sodium chloride)

Na⁺ + Cl⁻ → NaCl

In math, as the Admiral has pointed out, the minus sign and the negative sign are synonymous.  When using the words to talk about math there are some subtleties however.  Again in Admiral Betasin's example, "-5" can be called "minus five" or "negative five" and the two expressions refer to the exact same integer.  When the expression "a - b" is spelled out as "a minus b" then "minus" means "is subtracted by."  I think the confusion is due to the fact that the minus sign can be used as a binary operator for subtraction and as a unary operator for negation.  Fortunately for our sanity the two usages are closely related: subtraction is just the addition of the negative of the subtrahend. 

Or in symbols a - b = a + (-b)

It is the same symbol but in the first case it is used as a binary operator and in the second case it is used as a unary operator.  Historically, the idea of subtraction has been with us since ancient times, but the idea of negative numbers is relatively recent, but likely before the Han dynasty in China.  Evidence of negative numbers is also found in India before the 7th century and Islamic scholars brought those ideas to the west. It took a long time for the idea to take root in the west, but negative numbers were generally accepted by the end of the 17th century, early 18th century.