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In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator p and a non-zero denominator q. [ 1] For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (e.g., ). The set of all rational numbers, also referred to as " the rationals ", [ 2] the field of rationals[ 3 ...
The integers form the smallest group and the smallest ring containing the natural numbers. In algebraic number theory, the integers are sometimes qualified as rational integers to distinguish them from the more general algebraic integers. In fact, (rational) integers are algebraic integers that are also rational numbers.
In mathematics, the irrational numbers ( in- + rational) are all the real numbers that are not rational numbers. That is, irrational numbers cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers. When the ratio of lengths of two line segments is an irrational number, the line segments are also described as being incommensurable, meaning that they ...
All integers are rational, but there are rational numbers that are not integers, such as −2/9. Real numbers (): Numbers that correspond to points along a line. They can be positive, negative, or zero. All rational numbers are real, but the converse is not true. Irrational numbers (): Real numbers that are not rational.
The real numbers include the rational numbers, such as the integer −5 and the fraction 4 / 3. The rest of the real numbers are called irrational numbers. Some irrational numbers (as well as all the rationals) are the root of a polynomial with integer coefficients, such as the square root √2 = 1.414...; these are called algebraic numbers.
Different types of numbers on a number line. Integers are black, rational numbers are blue, and irrational numbers are green. The main kinds of numbers employed in arithmetic are natural numbers, whole numbers, integers, rational numbers, and real numbers. [12] The natural numbers are whole numbers that start from 1 and go to infinity.
An algebraic number is a number that is a root of a non-zero polynomial (of finite degree) in one variable with integer (or, equivalently, rational) coefficients. For example, the golden ratio, , is an algebraic number, because it is a root of the polynomial x2 − x − 1. That is, it is a value for x for which the polynomial evaluates to zero.
Many other number sets are built by successively extending the set of natural numbers: the integers, by including an additive identity 0 (if not yet in) and an additive inverse −n for each nonzero natural number n; the rational numbers, by including a multiplicative inverse / for each nonzero integer n (and also the product of these inverses ...