整数: a number format that includes negative integers
Read instructions to express an answer as an integer separately from counting objects, including zero and negative integers.
The requested answer format
整数, read せいすう, means an integer. 答えを整数で表してください。 requests an answer expressed as an integer. It specifies a format without saying that the answer has already been found.
Integers include negative integers, zero, and positive integers. For example, minus two, zero, and three are integers, while two point five is not.
A context containing negative values
負の整数を含む数列をノートに書いた。 says that a sequence containing negative integers was written in a notebook. 負の narrows the reference to negative values.
整数 does not always denote an object count. A temperature change or a mathematical expression can involve a negative value, unlike a count of objects.
Format and processing instructions
A stated answer of 答えは2.5です。 is not already an integer answer. Check whether a calculation or processing instruction is supplied to obtain an integer.
整数で表す alone does not tell you to round up or discard a fractional part. The required format and the processing method are separate instructions.
In 負の整数を含む, are negative values outside the set of integers?
Show the answer and why
No. Negative integers are integers too. Do not restrict 整数 to contexts that count objects.