According to the research of archaeologists, the concept of negative number is put forward in the "equation" of Nine Chapters Arithmetic, and the algorithm of adding and subtracting negative numbers is written. In addition, many ancient mathematical works in China and even calendars mentioned the arithmetic of negative numbers and negative numbers.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Qin recorded in Nine Chapters Arithmetic that the result as a constant term of higher order equation is "often negative".

In the book Detailed Explanation of Nine Arithmetic Algorithms, Yang Hui changed "profit", "subordinate", "division" and "elimination" into "addition" and "subtraction" respectively, which further clarified the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Zhu Shijie, a mathematician in the Yuan Dynasty, first included "addition and subtraction" in his book "Arithmetic Enlightenment", indicating that people at that time had regarded positive and negative numbers as a special mathematical research discipline.

In this book, Zhu Shijie also wrote the multiplication rule of positive and negative numbers, which is a new step for people to study positive and negative numbers.

Our understanding of positive numbers and negative numbers is not only earlier than that of Europeans, but also earlier than that of ancient Indians. India started to use negative numbers more than 700 years later than China. It was not until 630 that the famous ancient Indian mathematician Brahma began to use negative numbers. He used dots or circles to represent the minus sign. In Europe, people know negative numbers about 1000 years later than in China.