0
$\begingroup$
x = -8 y = 12 

I was told to calculate the rate of x according to y, and viceversa. So what I did was divide them.

x/y = -0.66 y/x = -1.5 

My question is rather straightforward: Is this right?

I am just unsure if there can be negative rates. For instance, I though that since y is greater than x, y I would get a positive rate.

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    what do you mean by "rate"?2012-09-25
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    @Avatar: Sorry, actually I don't speak English natively (Spanish). My word is "tasa" and apparently it translates to "rate" or "valuation". It is usually applied to compare the impact of two things, as in "Comparing these two quakes, the rate is 1:3, meaning that one quake was three times greater than the other"2012-09-25
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    If one of the two numbers is negative, then "rate" would surely be negative.2012-09-25
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    Oh, so... plain division is alright? Well, that's.. That's good. Yeah. Thanks.. answered.2012-09-25
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    @Avatar I think the English word you are looking for is ratio.2012-09-25
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    @RobertMiller: I know; i was just answering in OP's terminology to avoid confusion2012-09-25
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    @RobertMiller: Oh! I think that's indeed the word I was looking for. Yeah, ratio sounds about it.2012-09-25
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    But this does still confuse me... If x = 1 and y = -5, I don't find it very logical to say that x is negative-times greater than y...)2012-09-25
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    It is quite logical. When you multiply by something negative, the product is on the other side of 0 from where you started. Similarly when you divide two numbers, the quotient is positive if both are positive or both are negative. Are you happy with the fact that the product of two negative numbers is positive?2012-09-25
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    Alright, I'll trust you guys D:... can someone post an answer here or do I have to do it instead?2012-09-25
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    @Avatar Sorry, my mistake. I intended to direct my ratio comment to Omega not to you.2012-09-25
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    @RobertMiller: :)2012-09-25

1 Answers 1

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When you multiply by something negative, the product is on the other side of 0 from where you started. Similarly when you divide two numbers, the quotient is positive if both are positive or both are negative. Are you happy with the fact that the product of two negative numbers is positive?

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    An interesting side note: When the housing market started to crash, a number of firms' programs failed because they assumed that housing prices would always go up. Believe it or not!!!2012-09-25