Signed integers are whole numbers that can be either positive or negative. They are used in mathematics and computer programming to represent values that have a direction, such as temperature changes or financial transactions. The sign of the integer indicates whether the value is above (positive) or below (negative) zero. In computing, signed integers are typically stored using a specific format, such as two's complement. This allows computers to perform arithmetic operations on both positive and negative numbers efficiently. The range of signed integers depends on the number of bits used for storage, with more bits allowing for a larger range of values.