Why does multiplying two negative numbers equal a positive number?
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If you visually think of the numbers as in a straight line, ordered from smaller to higher with the negatives to the infinite left and the positives to the infinite right.
Multiplying by a positive numbers is like stretching that number line. So, for example 2×3, is like stretching the number line to triple it’s length. The position of 2 is now in the position of 6, so the result is 6.
Multiplying by negative one (-1) is like mirroring that line with respect to zero. So 3x(-1) is a flip around zero. The position of number 3 is where number -3 used to be, so the result is -3. A negative number is then the flipped version of a number.
So, if you take any number. And you do the flip operation twice you are back where you started.
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