SOLUTION: do you change the sign when dividing by an negative or du you do it before

Question 295714: do you change the sign when dividing by an negative or du you do it before
Found 2 solutions by PRMath, Fombitz:
Answer by PRMath(133) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Do you change the sign when dividing by an negative or do you do it before?

This is a confusing question, because I'm not sure the type of problem you are referring to, given that there are many instances where you divide by a negative.

For example, consider these rules:
A positive divided by a negative is a negative.
A negative divided by a negative is a positive.

In those cases, you are changing the sign.

If you are talking about inequalities, then you "flip" the sign when you divide by a negative.

For example, you could solve for "X" in the problem below, and you'd have to flip the sign because you are dividing by a negative. See the following:

-2x < 6
x > -3 (see how the sign flipped when we divided by -2? And see how the answer became -3 because we divided a positive by a negative?)

Here's another example:
-3y > -9
y < 3 (Again, the sign flipped because we divided by a negative. BUT, -9 divided by -3 gives a +3, so the answer was positive, which is also a changed sign).

If you give a sample question, you may get a little more help. I hope this helps you tho. :-)
Answer by Fombitz(32388) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Any time you multiply or divide an inequality by a negative number, you change the direction of the inequality (at the same time).
RELATED QUESTIONS
Why do you flip the sign of an inequality when multiply or dividing by a negative... (answered by Alan3354)
Why do you flip the inequality sign when dividing by a negative... (answered by rfer)
why must you reverse the inequality sign when multiplying or dividing both sides by a... (answered by elima)
When multiplying and dividing positive and negative numbers, how do you determine the... (answered by mawskittykat)
why must you reverse the inequality sign when multiplying or dividing both sides by a... (answered by stanbon)
When you are doing absolute value and the problem is a negative when you solve it does it (answered by Kuroinu)
When dividing by a negative number in an inequality, do I switch the signs around?... (answered by stanbon)
Why does the inequality sign change or flip after dividing by a negative... (answered by Fombitz,josgarithmetic)
When do you change the sign on an inequality, addition, subraction, multiplication and... (answered by lwsshak3)