'Meet me 3 meters from the flagpole.' You get there and wait. On the wrong side. '3 meters from the flagpole' fits two different spots on the path.
In earlier grades you saw that every position is measured from a reference point. On a straight path, a distance from that point still leaves two possibilities, one on each side.
Lay a number line along the path, with its zero at the flagpole. The chosen zero point is called the origin.
Now make the second choice: pick one side of the origin to count as positive. The other side counts as negative.
With both choices made, one signed number pins down every spot. A position in one dimension is a signed coordinate: a distance from the origin, plus a sign telling which side of the origin it is on. It is written with the symbol x. So x = −3 m means 3 m from the origin, on the negative side.
A marker on a straight path has position x = -6 m. Which description matches?
A traffic cone stands 8 m from the origin on the negative side of a track's number line. Enter the cone's position x in meters, including the sign.
A drone hovers above the point 15 m from the origin on the positive side of a runway's number line. Enter the drone's position x in meters.
A bead slides along a straight horizontal wire that carries a marked origin. Right now the bead's position is x = -7 m. Which statement is correct?
Marker A sits at x = +3 m on a road's number line. Marker B sits the same distance from the origin as A, but on the other side. Enter B's position x in meters, including the sign.
Buoy P floats at x = -9 m and buoy Q floats at x = +4 m on the same channel line. Which buoy is farther from the origin?