Jon P. answered  03/02/15
Tutor
                    
        5.0
        (173)
            Knowledgeable Math, Science, SAT, ACT tutor - Harvard honors grad
"Marginal" anything is a measure of the change in the quantity.  So if the total product is decreasing, it is changing in a negative direction.  So the marginal product is negative.
 
     
             
 
                     
                    