What does the phrase “you can’t prove a negative” actually mean?

Question

What does the phrase “you can’t prove a negative” actually mean?

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Answer 1

It means you can’t prove something didn’t happen. For example: Bob accuses Jane of stealing his cookie. Jane denies it, and Bob tells her to prove that she didn’t eat the cookie. She can’t prove she didn’t. She explain why it’s unlikely that she ate the cookie, but not prove it.

This can also go for proving something doesn’t exist. A very common one is “if you’re so sure God doesn’t exist, then prove it?” Well, you can show reasons why it’s unlikely God exists, but you can’t prove it absolutely.