Can anyone explain to me the difference between the number sets and what goes in each? (Integers, real #s, rationals, etc ?) I never fully grasped the differences. Thank you .

Question

lgbasallote · Answer

interesting....

integers are what you can call whole numbers. for example, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.

the whole numbers are the integers

rational numbers are quotients of two integers (therefore this includes integers AND fractions) i.e. 2, 1, 1/2, 3/4, 5, etc.

real numbers....well all numbers except imaginary numbers. the real numbers include integers, rational numbers AND irrational numbers

lgbasallote · Answer

does that help?

anonymous · Answer

It does, thank you. I also wanted to know however what qualifies as "natural numbers" because I have been told they're counting numbers but I'm not sure where that starts/stops. Also, what defines an irrational # ?

lgbasallote · Answer

irrational numbers are numbers you cant express as quotient of two integers

for example.pi...pi is 3.14159245

you can estimate it as 22/7 but it isnt very accurate. pi cannot be expressed as a quotient of two integers

lgbasallote · Answer

natural numbers are counting numbers yeah. so this includes ALL positive numbers. the negative numbers are NOT included

0 is sometimes included; sometimes ot..depends on the teacher. the topic is still debatable

anonymous · Answer

Ok, thank you for clarifying all that! :)

lgbasallote · Answer

welcome :D