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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 ...
A person who possesses these forms of rationality to a sufficiently high degree may themselves be called rational. [1] In some cases, also non-mental results of rational processes may qualify as rational. For example, the arrangement of products in a supermarket can be rational if it is based on a rational plan. [6] [2]
For example, any irrational number x, such as x = √ 2, is a "gap" in the rationals Q in the sense that it is a real number that can be approximated arbitrarily closely by rational numbers p/q, in the sense that distance of x and p/q given by the absolute value | x − p/q | is as small as desired. The following table lists some examples of ...
In mathematics, a rational function is any function that can be defined by a rational fraction, which is an algebraic fraction such that both the numerator and the denominator are polynomials. The coefficients of the polynomials need not be rational numbers ; they may be taken in any field K .
For example, all rational numbers have degree 1, and an algebraic number of degree 2 is a quadratic irrational. The algebraic numbers are dense in the reals . This follows from the fact they contain the rational numbers, which are dense in the reals themselves.
In mathematics, two non-zero real numbers a and b are said to be commensurable if their ratio a / b is a rational number; otherwise a and b are called incommensurable. (Recall that a rational number is one that is equivalent to the ratio of two integers.) There is a more general notion of commensurability in group theory.
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. [1] It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans.
In mathematics real is used as an adjective, meaning that the underlying field is the field of the real numbers (or the real field). For example, real matrix, real polynomial and real Lie algebra. The word is also used as a noun, meaning a real number (as in "the set of all reals").