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However, there is a second definition of an irrational number used in constructive mathematics, that a real number is an irrational number if it is apart from every rational number, or equivalently, if the distance | | between and every rational number is positive. This definition is stronger than the traditional definition of an irrational number.
In mathematics, "rational" is often used as a noun abbreviating "rational number". The adjective rational sometimes means that the coefficients are rational numbers. For example, a rational point is a point with rational coordinates (i.e., a point whose coordinates are rational numbers); a rational matrix is a matrix of rational numbers; a rational polynomial may be a polynomial with rational ...
Such a number is algebraic and can be expressed as the sum of a rational number and the square root of a rational number. Constructible number: A number representing a length that can be constructed using a compass and straightedge. Constructible numbers form a subfield of the field of algebraic numbers, and include the quadratic surds.
In a vector space, the additive inverse −v (often called the opposite vector of v) has the same magnitude as v and but the opposite direction. [9] In modular arithmetic, the modular additive inverse of x is the number a such that a + x ≡ 0 (mod n) and always exists. For example, the inverse of 3 modulo 11 is 8, as 3 + 8 ≡ 0 (mod 11).
In mathematics, the concept of an inverse element generalises the concepts of opposite (−x) and reciprocal (1/x) of numbers.. Given an operation denoted here ∗, and an identity element denoted e, if x ∗ y = e, one says that x is a left inverse of y, and that y is a right inverse of x.
In mathematics a rational number is a number that can be represented by a fraction of the form a / b , where a and b are integers and b is not zero; the set of all rational numbers is commonly represented by the symbol Q or , which stands for quotient.
So if a number can be very well approximated by rational numbers then it must be transcendental. The exact meaning of "very well approximated" in Liouville's work relates to a certain exponent. He showed that if α is an algebraic number of degree d ≥ 2 and ε is any number greater than zero, then the expression
Example: Let a and b be nonzero real numbers. Then the subgroup of the real numbers R generated by a is commensurable with the subgroup generated by b if and only if the real numbers a and b are commensurable, in the sense that a/b is rational. Thus the group-theoretic notion of commensurability generalizes the concept for real numbers.