The additive inverse is closely related to subtraction, which can be viewed as an addition using the inverse:
:.Conversely, the additive inverse can be thought of as subtraction from zero:
:.This connection lead to the minus sign being used for both opposite magnitudes and subtraction as far back as the 17th century. While this notation is standard today, it was met with opposition at the time, as some mathematicians felt it could be unclear and lead to errors.

Formal definition

Given

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