If you have problems dealing with negatives, try this: positive numbers (integers) or numbers with no sign in front of them can be treated as steps forward, while negative numbers are steps back. The number 4 can be treated as " go 4 steps forward". -7 means "now take 7 steps back". When we've gone 4 steps back we're at our starting point, zero. If we continue taking 3 remaining steps back we end up 3 steps back from our starting point or zero. That position is written as -3, three steps back from where we started. Get it?