How to say a negative number in Mandarin?

Question

There are plenty of posts for rules on numbers, but I can't seem to figure out how one would say, for example, -5 (negative five). I know that negative number is 负数, so would it just be 负五？

Answer 1

Negative numbers are simply read 负xxx, for example:

-5 负五

-1234.5 负一千二百三十四点五

(-3) x 5 = -15 负三乘以五等于负十五

2^(-3) 二的负三次方

When applied to certain domain, there might be domain specific way to read it. For example for temperature, it's more common to read it as 零下 (literally 'below zero'):

-10°C 零下十（摄氏）度

Reading as 负十度 is also correct, just less common.

Reference:

人教版小学四年级数学 第七单元 生活中的负数