Why did we use subtraction symbol to represent negative numbers

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Why did we use subtraction symbol to represent negative numbers? We could have just used some other symbol to represent negative number such as

.5

.6

.11

And we can add these numbers, subtract these numbers

.5 + .6 = .11

.5 - .4 = .1

5 + .4 = 1

1

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The notation fits nicely with the fact that adding a negative number is the same as subtracting the positive number. Thus instead of writing

$$10 + (-2)$$

we can just as well write

$$10 - 2.$$

It's especially nice with more complicated algebraic expressions. I like

$$y - 4(x+3) = y-4x-12$$

way better than

$$y + (-4)(x+3) = y + (-4)x + (-12).$$