What is the result when a negative number is divided by a positive number?

When a negative number is divided by a positive number, the result is a negative number. This is because division can be thought of as the process of distributing a value. When you take a negative value and distribute it over a positive quantity, the outcome retains the sign of the negative value.

For example, if you divide -10 by 2, you are effectively splitting -10 into 2 equal parts. Each part would be -5, which illustrates that the outcome is negative. The division essentially maintains the negativity of the original value since a positive divisor does not change the sign of the number being divided.

This principle is consistent in mathematics and applies universally to all negative numbers divided by positive numbers.