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positive

positive

31 1.0
A number that is greater than zero
  • adjective
  • /ˈpɑːzɪtɪv/
: positivo
  • To balance the two energy terms, it acts as a regularization parameter with a positive value.
  • positive number
  • positive value
  • strictly positive

Every possible X value is a positive value on this graph, correct?

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Examples

  • Every power you put there will give you a positive number greater than zero.

  • Production credit for the 1984-1985 harvest carried positive rates of interest for the first time since the early 1970s.

    Academic text (1999)
  • First you have the natural numbers, the ones that are whole and positive, like the numbers of a small child.

  • Every possible X value is a positive value on this graph, correct?

  • Exchange rates were fixed, and maintaining a positive current account position was an important goal of government policy.

    Academic text (1993)
  • The direction of treatment effects was set so that positive values implied greater improvement in student performance.

    Academic text (2012)
  • If enacted, the regulations would be a positive step toward addressing the root cause of contempt.

    Academic text (2017)
  • I like how it weighs the slim possibility of a positive financial outcome against the enormous potential litigation costs.

  • Among the MDR-TB contacts, 124 (60%) had positive tuberculin skin test results consistent with latent TB infection.

    Academic text (2011)
  • In mathematics, a positive number is a value greater than zero.

Antonyms

negative
  • Specialized
135 3.2

Less than zero in amount, value, or temperature

Compounds

A way of thinking that is hopeful and looks for solutions

A result that is good or wanted

positive energy
  • Informal
15 3.5

A hopeful, friendly feeling that makes people feel happy and active

Comments that praise or encourage someone's work

Clear proof that a person is who they say they are

positive feedback
  • Specialized
8 4.3

A process where a small change causes larger changes in a system

positive charge
  • Specialized
4 3.9

An electrical state when an object has fewer electrons than protons

When one thing goes up or down, the other goes the same way

Rh positive
  • Specialized
1 4.6

Having the Rh factor on the surface of red blood cells

An account that has more money in it than you have taken out

positive stimulus
  • Specialized
1 4.6

Something like praise or a reward that makes someone do something again

positive economics
  • Specialized
1 6.3

Part of economics that describes, explains, and predicts how the economy works without giving opinions

1 9.1

To hide facts or give false information on purpose to cheat someone

positive pole
  • Specialized
1 4.4

The end of a magnet that points north when the magnet hangs freely

positive reinforcer
  • Specialized
1 4.5

A thing given after a behavior that makes it more likely to happen again

positive pole
  • Specialized
1 3.5

A battery terminal marked with a plus sign that connects to the red wire

4.1

A blood group whose red blood cells have the Rh factor, common in most people

positive chemotaxis
  • Specialized
7.9

Movement of a cell toward a stronger chemical signal

positive adverb
  • Specialized
7.4

An adverb that shows a simple way something happens, not a comparison

positive degree
  • Specialized
5.7

The base form of an adjective or adverb that shows a quality without comparison

6.0

The end of a magnet that points toward the north when it hangs freely

positive muon
  • Specialized
9.9

A small particle with positive electric charge that turns into other tiny particles

Something pleasant that someone gives after a behavior to make it happen again

6.8

A word that shows how something is done without comparison

How Negative

subzero
1 3.7
negative
832 2.9
minus
182 2.8
zero
  • Specialized
464 1.0
positive
31 1.0

Surface Forms

positive positive

Morphology

positive = posit (transparent) = posit + ive

The mathematical sense ('greater than zero') is a common and directly oppositional extension of 'negative' and is readily understood by learners.

Etymology

Positive comes from the Latin posit- from ponere 'to put', and in mathematics it came to mean 'greater than zero' or 'on the plus side'. So a positive number is one that is more than zero and is placed to the right of zero on the number line.