You are very correct!
The current implmentation did not account for when number is equal 0

guy, you are Einstein

indeed, if you call makeNegative(0) it will be -0 :)

You should check what the value of num is first. In this case, if it's less than 0 (already negative) you simply return as is. If it's greater than or equal to 0, you return the negative of it.

i tried just returning -num. how does your code work?

use num > -num as the condition to correct the negative 0

Nice and simple!

just use the spoiler flag?

It is much easier than expected: you know that you can reach at most a Manhattan distance of s steps, and that, going randomly, you might have x steps that nullify x steps in the opposite direction.

So, if I had the chance to move by, say, 5 steps, I could end up to places like [0,5], [0,-5], [5,0] or [-5,0] moving in a straight line, [3,2] or [-1,4] combining direction or, having some backtracking, in places like [0,1] or [-1,2], but I would never be able to reach [2,2] or [0,-4] in 5 steps.

Hope this helps, cheers :)

how did u know this kata wud be solved if the values are subtracted and then checked > 0 or mod 2?