3 ms·
> I believe that in France (for example) zero is regarded as both positive and negative. That would cause all kinds of problems, so I'd be pretty surprised if
by thaumasiotes 1y ago
> I believe that in France (for example) zero is regarded as both positive and negative.
That would cause all kinds of problems, so I'd be pretty surprised if it turned out to be true.
I note that this is the heading of the relevant wikipedia page:
> Un nombre négatif est un nombre réel qui est inférieur à zéro, comme −3 ou −π.
( https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nombre_n%C3%A9gatif https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nombre_n%C3%A9gatif )
It'd be hard to be more explicit that zéro is not a negative number.
- ColinWright 1y agoIf you're going to quote wikipedia: > "Zéro est le seul nombre qui est à la fois réel, positif, négatif et imaginaire pur." From: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A9ro#Propri.C3.A9t.C3.A9s_arithm.C3.A9tiques_et_alg.C3.A9briques https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A9ro#Propri.C3.A9t.C3.A9s... It's hard to be more explicit that it is considered both. ================ Added in edit In speaking with a French colleague, he says that "inférieur" often means "less-than-or-equal-to" rather than "strictly-less-than", so the passage you quote would still imply that 0 is negative (and most likely also positive). ================ Second edit: > In France, "positive" means "supérieur à 0", and "supérieur à " means "greater than or equal to". Similarly, "négative" means "inférieur à 0", that is "less than or equal to 0". > (We have the similar reaction towards the anglosaxon world and the introduction of nonnegative…) -- https://mathstodon.xyz/@antoinechambertloir/115327589116457527 https://mathstodon.xyz/@antoinechambertloir/1153275891164575...