Fine point: in the case of &quot;negative&quot; (clockwise) rotations, the negative sign applies only to a scalar (an angle), not a vector. Surely even negative money is a real thing too: debt, or anyway debit. (Granted, debt can be less real than a pile of cash: if you&#x27;re owed you might never be repaid, if you owe you might default. But that&#x27;s a case of reality not matching theory well :)<p>In physical applications, relative to a coordinate system negative numbers have perfectly intuitive meanings. A negative spatial coordinate simply indicates a point in one of the quadrants or octants other than the all-positive-coords one. A negative acceleration means something is slowing down.<p>I see no good purpose served by special-casing &quot;negative&quot; integers, and many needless ensuing headaches.