Number
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For other uses, see Number (disambiguation).
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, and so forth. A notational symbol that represents a number is called a numeral. In addition to their use in counting and measuring, numerals are often used for labels (as with telephone numbers), for ordering (as with serial numbers), and for codes (as with ISBNs). In common usage, the term number may refer to a symbol, a word, or a mathematical abstraction.
In mathematics, the notion of number has been extended over the centuries to include 0, negative numbers, rational numbers such as and , real numbers such as and , complex numbers, which extend the real numbers by including , and sometimes additional objects. Calculations with numbers are done with arithmetical operations , the most familiar being addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation. Their study or usage is called arithmetic. The same term may also refer to number theory, the study of the properties of the natural numbers.
Besides their practical uses, numbers have cultural significance throughout the world.[1][2] For example, in Western society the number 13 is regarded as unlucky, and "a million" may signify "a lot."[1] Though it is now regarded as pseudoscience, numerology, or the belief in a mystical significance of numbers, permeated ancient and medieval thought.[3] Numerology heavily influenced the development of Greek mathematics, stimulating the investigation of many problems in number theory which are still of interest today.[3]
During the 19th century, mathematicians began to develop many different abstractions which share certain properties of numbers and may be seen as extending the concept. Among the first were the hypercomplex numbers, which consist of various extensions or modifications of the complex number system. Today, number systems are considered important special examples of much more general categories such as rings and fields, and the application of the term "number" is a matter of convention, without fundamental significance.[4]
Numerals
Main classificationEdit
"Number system" redirects here. For systems for expressing numbers, see Numeral system.
See also: List of types of numbers
Different types of numbers have many different uses. Numbers can be classified into sets, called number systems, such as the natural numbers and the real numbers. The same number can be written in many different ways. For different methods of expressing numbers with symbols, such as the Roman numerals, see numeral systems.
Main number systems
Natural 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ... or 1, 2, 3, 4, ...
Integer ..., −5, −4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...
Rational
a
/
b
where a and b are integers and b is not 0
Real The limit of a convergent sequence of rational numbers
Complex a + bi where a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of −1
Natural numbers
Main article: Natural number
The most familiar numbers are the natural numbers or counting numbers: 1, 2, 3, and so on. Traditionally, the sequence of natural numbers started with 1 (0 was not even considered a number for the Ancient Greeks.) However, in the 19th century, set theorists and other mathematicians started including 0 (cardinality of the empty set, i.e. 0 elements, where 0 is thus the smallest cardinal number) in the set of natural numbers.[5][6] Today, different mathematicians use the term to describe both sets, including 0 or not. The mathematical symbol for the set of all natural numbers is N, also written , and sometimes or when it is necessary to indicate whether the set should start with 0 or 1, respectively.
In the base 10 numeral system, in almost universal use today for mathematical operations, the symbols for natural numbers are written using ten digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. In this base 10 system, the rightmost digit of a natural number has a place value of 1, and every other digit has a place value ten times that of the place value of the digit to its right.
In set theory, which is capable of acting as an axiomatic foundation for modern mathematics,[7] natural numbers can be represented by classes of equivalent sets. For instance, the number 3 can be represented as the class of all sets that have exactly three elements. Alternatively, in Peano Arithmetic, the number 3 is represented as sss0, where s is the "successor" function (i.e., 3 is the third successor of 0). Many different representations are possible; all that is needed to formally represent 3 is to inscribe a certain symbol or pattern of symbols three times.
Integers
Main article: Integer
The negative of a positive integer is defined as a number that produces 0 when it is added to the corresponding positive integer. Negative numbers are usually written with a negative sign (a minus sign). As an example, the negative of 7 is written −7, and 7 + (−7) = 0. When the set of negative numbers is combined with the set of natural numbers (including 0), the result is defined as the set of integers, Z also written . Here the letter Z comes from German Zahl, meaning "number". The set of integers forms a ring with the operations addition and multiplication.[8]
The natural numbers form a subset of the integers. As there is no common standard for the inclusion or not of zero in the natural numbers, the natural numbers without zero are commonly referred to as positive integers, and the natural numbers with zero are referred to as non-negative integers.
Rational numbers
Main article: Rational number
A rational number is a number that can be expressed as a fraction with an integer numerator and a positive integer denominator. Negative denominators are allowed, but are commonly avoided, as every rational number is equal to a fraction with positive denominator. Fractions are written as two integers, the numerator and the denominator, with a dividing bar between them. The fraction
m
/
n
represents m parts of a whole divided into n equal parts. Two different fractions may correspond to the same rational number; for example
1
/
2
and
2
/
4
are equal, that is:
If the absolute value of m is greater than n (supposed to be positive), then the absolute value of the fraction is greater than 1. Fractions can be greater than, less than, or equal to 1 and can also be positive, negative, or 0. The set of all rational numbers includes the integers, since every integer can be written as a fraction with denominator 1. For example −7 can be written
−7
/
1
. The symbol for the rational numbers is Q (for quotient), also written .
Real numbers
Main article: Real number
The real numbers include all the measuring numbers. The symbol for the real numbers is R, also written as . Real numbers are usually represented by using decimal numerals, in which a decimal point is placed to the right of the digit with place value 1. Each digit to the right of the decimal point has a place value one-tenth of the place value of the digit to its left. For example 123.456 represents
123456
/
1000
, or, in words,one hundred, two tens, three ones, four tenths, five hundredths, and six thousandths. A finite decimal representation allows us to represent exactly only the integers and those rational numbers whose denominators have only prime factors which are factors of ten. Thus one half is 0.5, one fifth is 0.2, one tenth is 0.1, and one fiftieth is 0.02. To represent the rest of the real numbers requires an infinite sequence of digits after the decimal point. Since it impossible to write infinitely many digits, real numbers are commonly represented by rounding or truncating this sequence, or by establishing a pattern, such as 0.333..., with an ellipsis to indicate that the pattern continues. Thus 123.456 is an approximation of any real number between
1234555
/
10000
and
1234565
/
10000
(rounding) or any real number between
123456
/
1000
and
123457
/
1000
(truncation). Negative real numbers are written with a preceding minus sign: -123.456.
Every rational number is also a real number. It is not the case, however, that every real number is rational. A real number, which is not rational, is called irrational. A decimal represents a rational number if and only if has a finite number of digits or eventually repeats for ever, after any initial finite string digits. For example,
1
/
2
= 0.5 and
1
/
3
= 0.333... (forever repeating 3s, otherwise written 0.3). On the other hand, the real number π, the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter, is
Since the decimal neither ends nor eventually repeats forever (see: proof that pi is irrational) it cannot be written as a fraction, and is an example of an irrational number. Other irrational numbers include
(the square root of 2, that is, the positive number whose square is 2).
Just as the same fraction can be written in more than one way, the same decimal may have more than one representation. 1.0 and 0.999... are two different decimal numerals representing the natural number 1. There are infinitely many other ways of representing the number 1, for example 1.00, 1.000, and so on.
Every real number is either rational or irrational. Every real number corresponds to a point on the number line. The real numbers also have an important but highly technical property called the least upper bound property.
When a real number represents a measurement, there is always a margin of error. This is often indicated by rounding or truncating a decimal, so that digits that suggest a greater accuracy than the measurement itself are removed. The remaining digits are called significant digits. For example, measurements with a ruler can seldom be made without a margin of error of at least 0.001 meters. If the sides of a rectangle are measured as 1.23 meters and 4.56 meters, then multiplication gives an area for the rectangle of 5.6088 square meters. Since only the f