# Is it right to have negative rates?

x = -8
y = 12


I was told to calculate the rate of x according to y, and viceversa. So what I did was divide them.

x/y = -0.66
y/x = -1.5


My question is rather straightforward: Is this right?

I am just unsure if there can be negative rates. For instance, I though that since y is greater than x, y I would get a positive rate.

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what do you mean by "rate"? – Aang Sep 25 '12 at 1:49
@Avatar: Sorry, actually I don't speak English natively (Spanish). My word is "tasa" and apparently it translates to "rate" or "valuation". It is usually applied to compare the impact of two things, as in "Comparing these two quakes, the rate is 1:3, meaning that one quake was three times greater than the other" – Zol Tun Kul Sep 25 '12 at 1:54
If one of the two numbers is negative, then "rate" would surely be negative. – Aang Sep 25 '12 at 2:02
Oh, so... plain division is alright? Well, that's.. That's good. Yeah. Thanks.. answered. – Zol Tun Kul Sep 25 '12 at 2:04
@Avatar I think the English word you are looking for is ratio. – Robert Miller Sep 25 '12 at 2:10