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🔢 6th grade math · Counting & Numbers

Negatives on a number line

The opposite of a number is the same distance from 0 on the other side. The opposite of 7 is −7. The opposite of the opposite brings you back: the opposite of −(−4) is −4.

Worked example

|3| = ?
Answer: 3
Absolute value is the distance from 0 on the number line, so it is never negative. |3| = 3.
−10123433

For grown-ups: Rational numbers on the number line; opposites; coordinate plane, four quadrants. Below: three problems to try with the worked answers, and a free printable sheet. Children can practise the same skill as a game, with no sign-up and no ads.

  • CCSS 6.NS.C.6
What this practises, for teachers

Practices rational numbers on the number line; opposites; coordinate plane, four quadrants (6.NS.C.6). A printable sheet with its answer key, worked answers on the page, no accounts.

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For your class

🖨️ Printable sheet and key

On the board with this skill:

More printables, with answer keys, for this grade:

Try three

  1. |4| = ?
    Show the answer and how
    Answer: 4
    Absolute value is the distance from 0 on the number line, so it is never negative. |4| = 4.
    −101234544
  2. How far is −6 from 0 on the number line?
    Show the answer and how
    Answer: 6 units
    Absolute value is the distance from 0 on the number line, so it is never negative. |−6| = 6: −6 is 6 steps from 0.
    −7−6−5−4−3−2−101234567−66
  3. −(−4) = ?
    Show the answer and how
    Answer: 4
    −(−4) means the opposite of −4, which is 4. Two minus signs in a row cancel out.
    −5−4−3−2−1012345−44

Before and after

Learn first: Numbers below zero (6th)

Comes next: Order and absolute value (6th)

Name: ____________________Date: ____________Score: ____ / 12

Negatives on a number line (6th grade)

  1. The opposite of 5 is ?
  2. |−2| = ?
  3. The opposite of 3 is ?
  4. The opposite of −9 is ?
  5. The opposite of −1 is ?
  6. The opposite of −2 is ?
  7. The opposite of −3 is ?
  8. The opposite of −6 is ?
  9. How far is −3 from 0 on the number line?
  10. −(−6) = ?
  11. The opposite of −11 is ?
  12. |−12| = ?

Answer key

  1. −5
  2. 2
  3. −3
  4. 9
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 6
  9. 3 units
  10. 6
  11. 11
  12. 12

More 6th grade skills: all 6th grade math skills, or every grade at math skills.