The second property of the difference of two vectors and is that

- = + (-).

This equation suggests the second method for constructing the difference, here called the Add-The-Negative method. First the direction of is reversed to give -. Then - is added to to give - . The diagram on the left shows the original two vectors, and the diagram on the right the vector - and how it is added to .

The diagram below shows the construction of the difference via the comparison method once more. As you can see, the two constructions are not the same, but lead to the same result.

Comparison Method