How are negative numbers represented on a number line?

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Map of the Greco-Roman world highlighting the birthplaces of notable ancient mathematicians, marked with the pi symbol and labeled with their names. Cities such as Athens, Alexandria, Syracuse, and Miletus are shown around the Mediterranean, with modern country boundaries outlined. An inset provides detail for the region of Greece and western Anatolia. — algebra This map spans a millennium of prominent Greco-Roman mathematicians, from Thales of Miletus (c. 600 bce) to Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 400 ce).

On a number line, negative numbers are represented to the left of zero, while positive numbers are positioned to the right.1

Zero serves as the central point of the number line, acting as the separator between these two sets of values. In this geometric representation, the distance of a number from zero corresponds to its absolute value, and moving to the left along the line consistently represents a decrease in value.1